Kingdom Hearts: Fragments of Starlight
by Moogle Empress
Summary: Lucille, Florian and Chi are left in an unknown place after closing the Door to Darkness. They meet a quirky but friendly nobody called Quartz and discover that Sora and his friends had entered Castle Oblivion, where a shady group of people in black coats are lurking. Can they overcome the trials set before them to save her brother? Or will they face their oblivion?
1. Episode 1: Nobody In White

**Kingdom Hearts: Fragments of Starlight**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts! That is the property of Disney (even though Square-Enix was the one who developed it)

Note: Just to let you know, you will need to have read KH Radiant Dawn first before reading this one, as this takes place after the end of Radiant Dawn. So you will need to read the first story to get the full story and enjoyment of this one. Thank you for your understanding.

Pairings: The same as it was in KH Radiant Dawn. Although I would like to hear your thoughts about who you think Lucille should end up with. In the meantime I'll still drop hints here and there. =3

Genre: Adventure/Humor/Family/Friendship/Angst and, of course, totally fantasy. =P

Summary: Lucille, Florian and Chi are left in an unknown place after closing the Door to Darkness. They meet a quirky but friendly nobody called Quartz and discover that Sora and his friends had entered Castle Oblivion, where a shady group of people in black coats were doing something sinister within. Can they overcome the trials set before them to save her brother? Or will they face their oblivion?

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 **Episode 1: Nobody In White**

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They continued to walk along the grassy fields towards the castle in the distance.

"Geez, why does it feel like we're not getting anywhere near that castle? Feels like we've been walking for ages." Lucille panted.

"Um, should we rest? You shouldn't push yourself, even if we're not in the Realm of Darkness anymore," Florian suggested.

"Hm, maybe getting a rest would be a good idea. We used up a lot of energy going into Union Drive twice." Lucille nodded.

"I have noticed that we had not seen a single Heartless. In fact, besides us, I haven't seen a single other person," Chi noted.

"Yeah...just where are we? We escaped the Realm of Darkness, although I still don't know how exactly we escaped. Do you have any ideas, Ava?"

 _"I'm sorry, when you fell unconscious, I did too, so I don't really remember what happened after,"_ Ava apologized.

"Ah well, it was worth a shot." Lucille sat down on the grass and laid down to look at the starry skies above. "At least the ground isn't too hard to rest on for a world that seems empty."

"I have a feeling that it was the Great World Tree that brought us here. I remember hearing its voice just before my mind went blank," Florian recalled.

"Me too! I heard it too! So that really was the World Tree itself talking to us? Huh...I didn't know you could speak with plants. Is that because you were a flower before?" Lucille teased.

Florian chuckled. "No, nothing like that. All Seraphim can hear the Great World Tree. It speaks in the seraphic language that all Seraphim are naturally in tuned to understand. It must have been because we were in Union Drive that you heard it too," Florian answered.

Lucille gave a short nod. "That makes sense. It was right after we purified one of its roots from the Heartless corruption that has infected it. I wonder, though...That Ratatosk guy said the Great World Tree had roots in countless worlds, right? Just how many of them are infected by the Heartless right now?"

"Ratatosk...That Seraph had scary eyes. There was no warmth or light in them at all, like they were lifeless." Florian shivered.

"I get the feeling that we haven't seen the last of him either...He's certainly nothing like you or Luma. Speaking of them...I wonder how they're doing...Especially Sora, Kairi, Zen and Oswald..."

"You should have seen their faces when you chose to stay behind in the Realm of Darkness," Chi told her.

"Yeah...I can imagine their reaction...Ah man...I'm gonna get chewed out big time by both of them," Lucille lamented.

"I-I'm sure that they'll understand. We did help to hold the tide of Heartless back while they were trying to get the Door to Darkness shut." Florian tried to cheer her up and patted her back gently.

"This might sound selfish...but I'm glad they didn't follow after us. I was worried about Zen. If we had remained trapped in the Realm of Darkness even after purifying the root, the darkness might have gotten to him eventually because of that claw of his. I didn't want him to be hurt or suffer any more. I didn't take into account just how much pain he'd be in because of the Heartless claw absorbing the darkness in that realm."

"It's not selfish to put the well-being of others above your own, Lady Lucille," Chi lightly scolded and shook her head. "You were probably right and the darkness might have eaten away at Zen. Keeping him on the Realm of Light's side was the right choice. Even if Zen doesn't agree with that choice," Chi added.

"He's still gonna chew me out even if it was for his own good. I can just imagine it now. He's such a jerk, just like Riku!" Lucille huffed.

"I do hope Riku and King Mickey are okay, though, wherever they ended up," Florian prayed.

"Yeah...me too. Hopefully we'll bump into them here, but considering we hadn't even seen anyone else yet..." Lucille stared up at the starlit sky, it was surprisingly clear and bright tonight.

"You know, for a world that seems pretty empty, it has a beautiful sky."

When they heard something rustling in the grass nearby, Lucille jumped to her feet and summoned her Lux Arma. Taking the initiative first, she pounced on whoever was trying to ambush them.

"YIKES! Wait, wait, wait! I'm a nice Nobody, I swear! I'm not with the ones in the black coats!" A surprisingly high yelp came from the would-be ambusher, who quickly plead for his life.

"...Well, you gave up quick." Lucille raised an eyebrow.

"A Nobody? Are you one of those unique nobodies that have a human form? I heard stories that there are nobodies like that, but most of them are Dusks," Florian commented innocently.

"Is this proof enough?" The young man asked as he pulled down the hood to reveal his face to them.

He looked almost around the same age as Aster himself. He had short, wavy pale green hair that framed his face perfectly, although one side seemed longer that the rest of his wavy strands at the front, even almost covering his left. He had lilac-shaded eyes that were soft and sincere. It was hard to tell if the white trench coat along with the baggy pants and boots that matched the colour of the trench coat itself were the only things he was wearing underneath the coat.

One thing Lucille did notice was that one of his wavy strands of hair in the front had some black string wrapped around it and dangling at the end of that string was a small but beautiful crystal shard that glittered whenever it reflected the light. She could have sworn that the shard even gave a soft glow of light from within.

However, Lucille got the impression that the young man was...well...completely harmless.

"Huh, you don't look different from a normal person to me," Lucille noted.

The young man seemed to beam at this. "Really?! That's great! I was kinda worried I looked like a monster underneath the hood. You see, I can't really see my own face," the man admitted shyly.

"You...can't see your face? Do you know what a mirror is?" Chi questioned.

"You misunderstand, I have no reflection, so I can't see what I look like for myself. I have to rely on how people see me. And so far...well...let's just say you guys have been the only ones to see my face. Everyone else apparently keeps thinking I wear my hood all the time even when it's down."

"This one mean person thought I was a Heartless, and he chased me around Traverse Town with that scary gunblade of his. It was so horrible." He sniffed and whimpered at the memory.

Lucille only looked stupified. "How old are you exactly?"

"Uhhhhh..." The young man looked up to the sky as if trying to count the stars, then looked at his fingers and started to count them off but stopped when he came to a painful realization. "Um...I can't count. I never learned how, so I kinda don't know how old I am."

"He's like a five year old trapped inside a young man's body!" Chi cried out.

"Well, Nobodies like this guy are similar to Seraphim. They usually match the shell of their somebody whom created them when their heart is taken by the Heartless and the body is left behind," Florian explained.

"So...he could look like an old man but still only just a few days old? Depending on how long their somebody has vanished?"

"It also takes a really strong heart to create a Nobody too," Florian added.

Lucille looked back at the young man and looked confused. "If this guy had a strong heart to create a powerful Nobody like this, I wonder if the Heartless caused brain damage too."

The young man pouted his lips, looking genuinely hurt by the comment.

"Lucille, maybe you should go a little easy on him," Florian advised.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound mean," She apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. I guess it was pretty rude of me to try and approach you without revealing myself first. You probably thought I was one of those mean people in the black coats, so I can't blame you for jumping on me like that." The young man also apologized.

"You keep saying people in black coats-what do you mean by that?" Chi questioned.

"You don't know about them? They're a group of really strong Nobodies, but they're not very nice and obsessed with trying to get hearts of their own." He tilted his head in confusion.

"Hmm...They certainly sound like bad news. How do you know about them if you're not with them?" Lucille wondered.

"...I...really don't know. They just appeared one day out of nowhere and they said they wanted to 'study' me. I really didn't like the look in their leader's eyes and they reeked of darkness. I was so scared of them! So...I ran away and I've been world-hopping ever since." He shook his head.

"They just started to hunt you down out of nowhere?" Florian looked puzzled.

"I know...I don't know why either. I'm no one special, or at least-I don't think I am. I don't know anything about myself."

"You have amnesia?" Lucille looked saddened at this.

The young man in the white trench coat simply nodded.

"Now I feel even more horrible for picking on you earlier." Lucille felt guilty for how she acted earlier.

The young man shook his head. "It's okay. It's probably why I'm the way I am." He chuckled sadly.

"Do you have no memory of your Somebody at all?" Florian asked.

The Nobody in the white trench coat simply shook his head again. "I don't know what happened to my Somebody, but...I get the feeling that something awful happened to their world and they were a victim of it."

"I see." Florian frowned sadly.

"You know, that's a really beautiful crystal. Did you always have it?" Lucille decided to change the topic a little by bringing up the crystal shard that was tied to one of the wavy strands of the young man's hair.

"Oh, this? Yeah, this is the only thing I had with me when I first awakened as a Nobody. I can sense a powerful light radiating from it. I know it's something important to my Somebody. That's...just what my heart tells me, so I keep it with me at all times in memory of him."

"That's very thoughtful." Lucille smiled.

"Strange, I was told Nobodies don't have hearts. They just think they do since they still remember what it's like to be Someones." Florian tilted his head slightly.

"Hmm...how do I explain this? We technically don't at the very beginning, but we can grow our own hearts over time? Kinda like how you Seraphim guys can grow hearts of your own, right?"

Florian nodded and smiled. "Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I was originally a Paopu flower but I managed to develop and grow my own heart through my connection with Lucille."

"Ooh, you guys have a history? Aw, I'm jealous."

"Well, let's just say fate works in mysterious ways, but I know one thing-Florian has saved my life countless times. I'd be completely helpless without him," She confessed.

Florian blushed lighly at the praise.

"Oh! That's right. We've talked for all this time and I haven't introduced myself yet!" the young man suddenly realized. "I'm Quartz, or at least as far as my memory goes that's my name. I dunno if it's my true name or not."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lucille. Florian here is my seraphim partner, and this is Chi. She's a Chirithy."

"It's a delight to meet all of you. So...this will sound weird but...how did you guys end up here? This world isn't a place that can be just visited by anyone."

"Well...this is going to sound like a really bizarre story but-" Lucille proceeded to explain their story to Quartz, who eagerly listened to all of it.

When their tale came to the conclusion, Quartz looked both confused and fascinated at the same time.

"Wow! I can't believe all that was happening while I was just worried about getting caught by those guys in the black coats!"

"Hopefully, all the worlds that were stolen by the Heartless have been restored. I wish I could see how my islands are doing. Mom and Dad are probably interrogating poor Kairi as we speak about us and Riku. Especially my Mom."

"We'll get out of here, Lucille. Besides, I would love to meet the parents of Lady Lucille and young Master Sora," Chi tried to cheer her up.

"You...might change your mind once you meet my Mom..." Lucille paled.

"Oh, that's right...Your mother had always been an over-protective person." Florian sweat-dropped.

"You still remember that even though you were a flower?" Lucille smirked.

"Your mother is certainly...unique." Florian laughed sheepishly.

"What about your Dad?" Quartz asked curiously.

"Dad...? Hmm...I guess you could say Dad is the calm one. He always knew how to pacify Mom when she gets too overprotective over me and Sora. He's also an amazing crafter. He made mine and Sora's necklaces. He always says that there's a bit of magic put into each charm and accessory he makes, but he was just being poetic...I think."

"He crafts charms and accessories? Hmm..." Chi wondered thoughtfully. "Do you mind me asking how your Father came to know such skills?"

"I...I don't think even my Dad knows. You see, he technically isn't from the main island. He washed up on the beach one day just like Kairi did. Mom was the one who tended to him since he was badly injured and suffered memory-loss."

"How romantic~" Quartz innocently commented.

"Yeah, sounds pretty corny, huh?" Lucille laughed. "It did happen, though, and the rest is history. Even to this day, though, Dad never got back his old memories, but he said he doesn't need them anymore since he has us."

"..." Chi was quiet, as if she was pondering something deep.

"Chi, what's wrong?" Lucille asked curiously since the Chirithy was being oddly quiet.

 _"I think Chi is thinking along the same lines as me...I've been meaning to ask, Lucille...Is there a chance that your father might have come from another world? Just like Kairi did?"_ Ava asked Lucille mentally through their connection.

'I have been thinking about that too. Could it really be that...' Lucille trailed off in her line of thought.

"No, please don't worry, Lady Lucille." Chi shook her head. Lucille decided to leave it since it was probably the same question that Ava had asked.

"I've been meaning to ask...why were you trying to approach us, Mr. Quartz?"

"Whoa, that sounds way too formal. Just call me Quartz." The pale greenette shook his head quickly. "About why I was trying to catch up with you guys...you weren't thinking of going to that castle in the distance, right?"

"Oh, that castle?" Lucille pointed in the distance. "Well yeah, that's the idea."

"You can't!" Quartz quickly blurted out. It made all of them jump a little. "That's Castle Oblivion! It's super dangerous over there right now! Those men in the black coats are there and they're doing all kinds of weird creepy experiments! Now that I think about it, I swear not long ago-I saw a boy and two of his friends enter that place and they never came back out."

Quartz made a huge gasp. "Oh no! What if those men in the black coats captured them and they're doing twisted experiments on them?!"

"Calm down! Okay, start from the beginning, who are these people you saw go inside and never came back out and what experiments?" Lucille placed her hands over his shoulders.

"Uhh...Well, when I world-hopped into this world, I arrived around the same time as this brunette boy and his two friends. One was a duck and the other was a dog. I was curious and tried to peak inside, but when I saw that man in the black coat appear before them, I ran away," Quartz recalled the events. "Why didn't I stop them from going inside?! I'm an awful person. I left them there in the hands of those...fiends!"

"Wait, what was the name of that boy?" Lucille's eyes widened in horror.

"Uhh...I think his name was Sora if I remember what that dog said."

"That's...that's my brother! Why is Sora here?!"

"That was your brother?!" Quartz jumped in shock. "Now that I notice, there is a really strong resemblance between you two."

"Sora and Lucille are identical twins, so they do look very close to each other," Florian answered.

Lucille got to her feet. "Now I've got to go there! If what Quartz said is right about those Nobodies in the black coats and all those...experiments..." Lucille shivered at the thought of her brother being used by them.

Quartz got up to his feet and bravely spoke up, "I'll-I'll go too! It's my fault for not doing anything and running away like a coward that they're still in there in their captivity. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't make that right. Especially since he's family to you."

"But...aren't you on the run from those guys?" Lucille asked.

"Yes, and I'm still scared of getting caught by them...but I have go there as well. I want to save your brother and his two friends," Quartz admitted.

Lucille smiled kindly. "Thank you, Quartz. I know you feel bad for what happened, but I don't blame you, okay? It's not like you led them there on purpose."

"B-but even so...I could have prevented it if I just stood my ground and told them not to trust that guy but...I ran away."

Lucille shook her head. "Does it really matter now whose to blame? The important thing is to rescue them, and I intend to do that. I appreciate you coming with us, even though you're scared of those nobodies."

"Don't worry, we'll protect you if those Nobodies try anything. Right, Lucille? Florian reassured.

"Absolutely." Lucille winked.

"It's not like I don't know how to fight back too." Quartz puffed his cheeks. "But...I'm thankful that'd you'd help me, even though I don't deserve it."

"Aw, ain't that cute? I think I might develop cavities from all the sweetness." A new yet teasing voice made their existence known.

Through a portal of darkness, a man in a black coat slipped through it.

"Ahhh! It's one of the black coats!" Quartz cried out.

"Excellent detective skills there, kid. Man, why the boss wants you captured I'll never know. Still, orders are orders," The man sarcastically noted as he pulled his hood off and revealed his face to them.

"And you are?" Lucille narrowed her eyes.

"The name's Axel, got it memorized?" The red-haired man smirked.

"...Sure, why not." Lucille rolled her eyes. "Now tell me, is my brother in that castle and if so you better tell me where exactly or those Nobodies are going to be one man down," Lucille threatened.

"Whoa, the Keyblade Master's sister is a feisty one. I like that. Anyway, funny enough, my boss wants your capture as well. Don't ask me why, I don't know either. I just follow orders, so no hard feelings." Axel smirked before summoning his chakrams into his hands.

"Well your boss is going to be very unhappy with you because I have no intentions of letting you take Quartz or myself." Lucille summoned both her weapons as well.

"We'll see about that," Axel countered and just when he was going to use his fire magic, Quartz quickly intervened with magic of his own.

"Stay away from us!" From a wave of one of Quartz's hands, a wall of crystallized light spiked up like icicles from the ground, essentially imprisoning Axel inside.

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Florian cheered.

"C'mon, let's go! We'll make it to the castle this way!" Quartz quickly created a portal of light out of thin air.

"You can use Corridors of light too?! I thought only Seraphim knew about them." Florian blinked.

"Eheh heh...I guess that's another mystery about me that needs solving." Quartz laughed nervously before his face grew serious again. "Anyway, c'mon, this portal will take us right to the castle's entrance."

Not wasting any time, they quickly entered the portal of light before Quartz jumped in after them, closing the portal after him. At that moment, Axel used his fire abilities to break out of his crystal prison.

"Crystallized light, huh? I'm beginning to see why Xemnas wants him brought to the Organization. Two can play this game though." Axel fired up a portal of darkness and slipped inside it to chase after the group. No target ever escapes him.

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And so we begin the Chain of Memories Arc. Sorry about it being shorter than my usual chapters, think of it as a pilot. XD

As you already know if you read my last chapter in the Radiant Dawn fan fic, this takes place after Sora and Riku's time in the castle. Well, technically just after Riku's adventure. So this will be an original plot to spice things up. =3

I hope you look forward to what's in store for this one!

Also to those who leave guest reviews, to make it easier to answer your replies during review corner, would it be okay for you guys to add a pen-name when you write your guest reviews? Just so I can answer your questions more directly. =3

You don't have to if you don't want to, but I just feel it would be easier to communicate with you guys about any questions you have and not accidentally write the answer to the wrong person. If that makes sense.

Anyways, please leave a review if you like, I would love to hear your guys' thoughts and feedback. =3

So until next chapter, see you all next time and happy reading! Moogle Empress, out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	2. Episode 2: The Memory Of Marluxia

**Episode 2: The Memory Of Marluxia**

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As Quartz told them, the portal led them to the entrance of the castle in front of them. After Quartz closed the portal behind him again once everyone had passed through it, Chi looked up at the towering building.

"I...like what they did to the place..." Chi commented while her voice shivered in fear.

Lucille, who had dismissed her two weapons once again now that they were away from that Nobody, picked up Chi. "Sora, Donald and Goofy are in there somewhere...Hang in there guys, we're coming to save you."

"This castle looks huge!" Florian looked right up to the castle's highest floor. "I'm sensing strong hearts of light above us," Florian then reported.

"Maybe that's where they are right now." Lucille made a wild guess.

"There's a lot of seraphic magic woven into this castle too. Why is that? I thought this place was populated by those guys in the black coats," Florian wondered out loud.

"You can sense all that? Seraphim are amazing!" Quartz praised.

"No, not really." Florian blushed lightly. "There are other Seraphim who are much more skilled than I am. I'm still just a fledgling."

"Well, time to go save my brother." Lucille breathed deeply before boldly opening the castle's doors and taking a peek inside.

"Looks like the coast is clear," Lucille told them as she pushed the door further so everyone could get inside. The first thing they noticed when they entered was...how bright the room was.

"Whoa, someone loves the colour white," Quartz bluntly commented.

"At least the inside of the castle looks...well...normal compared to the exterior." Lucille shrugged.

"There's no doubt about it-there's a guardian in this castle-but something's wrong," Florian confirmed, detecting the presence of a fellow Seraph.

"What do you mean by 'wrong'? Other than those guys in the black coats," Lucille asked.

"They're actively hiding their presence so they can't be located by anyone who's not a Seraph. I wonder if it's because of the Organization," Florian wondered.

"You mean that shady group that's got my brother somewhere trapped here and that crazy red-head," Lucille motioned her thumb to point back outside.

Florian nodded. "They must be hiding from them for a good-" Florian was stopped midway when he noticed Axel coming through the castle doors as well. "Guys, behind you!"

Axel easily slipped through the door before shutting it behind him. "Did you really think you could escape me that easily? Hate to break it to you, but I can make portals too. Now be good little children and come quietly. I really don't want to get rough with you."

Lucille glared. "And I told you, we aren't going anywhere. Why is Quartz so special to your boss anyway? He's not organization material unless you plan to have him befriend his enemies to death."

"...That...was a compliment, right?" Quartz looked confused and asked Florian.

"Like I said, I don't question my orders-well-most of the time at least." Axel shook his head.

"How about thinking for yourself? You might not have a heart, but you've got a brain, right?" Lucille argued.

"Geez, low blow there, kid." Axel rolled his eyes. "Look, either way, you're not escaping this time. Besides, where can you run now? You're inside a castle that's known for trapping wayward little explorers like yourselves." Axel grinned.

"..." Lucille glanced back at the doors that would probably go to the next floor of the castle then back at Axel. "If that's the case, I'll take my chances with the castle," She challenged.

"Too bad for you, you can't just explore this castle as you please. This castle has special rules," Axel teased.

"Is he talking about the seraphic artes that are layered all over the castle?" Florian whispered.

"I don't think he even noticed you are here so I doubt he knows about the artes," Lucille whispered back.

"Okay, this is really bugging me, who _are_ you talking to? You didn't go crazy while in the Realm of Darkness did you?" Axel threw up his hands in frustration.

"Yup, he can't see or hear Seraphim at all," Lucille confirmed.

Quartz looked behind him when he heard someone arrive through the doors and jumped back in shock at what he saw.

"Guys!" Quartz warned them quickly, making them all turn to see yet another person in a black coat.

"Another one?!" Lucille and the others moved back until they were right between the two Nobodies.

"We're trapped!" Chi panicked.

"Wait...you can't be-Marluxia?!" Axel seemed just as surprised as they were.

"...So you guys aren't working together?" Lucille raised an eyebrow.

The person in the black coat pulled down his hood to reveal it was indeed the graceful assassin himself. "You seemed surprised to see me, Axel. I'm hurt." Marluxia smirked.

"B-But-How?! Sora destroyed you!" Axel accused.

"Well...that is only half-true. I am but a memory that lingers within this castle-all thanks to the ancient illusionary artes that are woven into this castle. I have found immortality even after I lost my body."

"The seraphic artes brought him back as an illusion?" Florian wondered.

"That sounds like a really bad side-effect-especially in this case," Lucille bluntly stated.

"Master Unei won't like this. She's really proud of her artes." Florian sweatdropped.

"Oh, that's just wonderful." Axel sarcastically scoffed.

"Ah...You must be the Keyblade Master's twin sister. The close resemblance is quite remarkable."

"Wait...then you're the one I saw! The one that appeared in front of them!" Quartz clicked.

"Ah yes, the Nobody that can create crystalized light-otherwise known as Lux in the ancient tongue." Marluxia turned to Quartz who shivered in fear at the way the illusion form of Marluxia looked at him.

 _"Lux?! Quartz can create Lux? How is that possible...?"_ Ava was shocked at this revelation.

"Okay, I don't know anything about Lux or whatever junk you just spewed out. But you see..." Axel summoned his chakrams and got into his usual battle stance. "I'm a perfectionist when it comes to completing my missions-looks like I'll just have finish you off right here."

"You're free to try-unfortunately for you, I no longer have a physical form. You'd just be hitting thin air." Marluxia smirked cruelly.

"Wait Mr. Axel. He's right, you wouldn't be able to hit him if he's an illusion created from Marluxia's lingering memories within this castle," Florian tried to reason but Axel didn't seem to have noticed. Florian then facepalmed at his own stupidity. "Oh right...he can't see or hear me."

"Why are you even here, anyway?" Lucille demanded.

"I seek revenge against the one who ended my existence as a Nobody. But as you can see, I am at a disadvantage, but your deaths will make a suitable replacement. After all, why go after Sora when I can take away one of his most treasured people? It's the perfect kind of revenge." Marluxia smiled coldly.

Lucille summoned her Lux Arma, "Better think again!"

"No chance, Marluxia. We need her alive-and crystal boy over there." Axel went in front of Lucille.

"Heeey..." Quartz felt offended.

"Go ahead and try to fight back if you can. You can't hurt me, but I'm more than capable of hurting you." Marluxia called forth what looked like a ghostly version of 'graceful dahlia'.

"Lucille...what do we do?" Florian asked. "We can't hurt him like this while he's an illusion."

Lucille gritted her teeth and cursed their predicament.

Out of nowhere and by complete surprise, Marluxia was struck behind by a surprise attack from someone.

"Y-you? How are you still alive?" Marluxia sounded surprised at the person who was able to deal a blow to him. Just then, the mysterious attacker ran by Marluxia and approached the group.

He was someone in a black coat as well, but his hood was up, hiding his face from sight. He looked at Lucille and spoke, "Follow me if you don't want to die here." The voice sounded oddly boyish yet familiar.

"But you're wearing a black coat. Doesn't that means you're with them?" Quartz pointed at Axel.

The hooded boy shook his head. "There's no time to explain. If you stay here you won't stand a chance against Marluxia the way he is now. I can help you-but I need you to trust me."

Lucille glanced at Axel and back at the hooded boy. "What do you think?"

Quartz looked at the hooded boy intently before deciding, "Hmmm, he doesn't feel the same as the others in the black coats. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something different."

"I don't know why, but I feel like we can trust him," Florian voiced his answer.

"So its not just me, huh? Alright, we'll take our chances." Lucille nodded.

The hooded boy nodded back. "Follow me!" And follow him they did.

Marluxia tried to stop them by circling around them but Axel got in the way. "Don't get the wrong idea-I'm just making sure you don't kill them off before I can bring them back to the organization. Don't think this is over yet!" Axel told Marluxia before warning Lucille and the others.

"Just try and catch us if you can," Lucille challenged back before the hooded boy opened what looked like a doorway into another world using a card on the door.

"What the?"

"It's a memory world. Marluxia can only take form in Castle Oblivion. He won't be able to follow us," The boy told them.

"I don't know what that means but..." Lucille took a quick look back at the fierce battle between Axel and Marluxia, however, it looked like Marluxia had the advantage since Axel's attacks weren't working against him at all. "I don't think we've got time to ponder about it."

The hooded boy first jumped through the doorway as a way to prove that it was safe to walk through. Taking a blind leap in faith, the others quickly jumped in as well.

"No! They're getting away." Marluxia charged at the door, only for it shut just before he could enter it.

"I believe you only exist as a memory in Castle Oblivion. You can't follow them like you are now."

"No...but they will have to come back to the castle eventually. Rest assured-I'll be ready when they do," Marluxia gave in ominous warning before disappearing, leaving Axel as the only person there now.

"Geez, how did such a simple mission get so complicated?" Axel sighed. "This is why I hate the icky jobs. Still...I never expected to see Vexen's prototype replica here. I thought he said he destroyed it..."

* * *

Lucille's group found themselves on the other side of the door. They weren't in Castle Oblivion anymore but...

"This is...my island?" Lucille blinked in surprise. At first she couldn't believe it but the familiar sounds of the ocean waves and seagulls told her otherwise.

"Ooh, what a pretty island! What's that big giant blue thing over there?" Quartz excitedly looked around and pointed to the ocean curiously.

"That's the ocean...you've never seen an ocean before?"

Quart shook his head. "I've heard of them, but I never expected them to look like that. It's so...blue!"

Lucille smiled hopelessly. "I really can't take you seriously. So excitable at every little thing."

"Well...I couldn't really enjoy the sights of the worlds I visited before because...you know...those people in the black coats, but still-this world looks so amazing, I can't pass up the chance to explore it."

"One of my friends would say otherwise." Lucille rolled her eyes at the thought of her friend, Riku. She really hoped that he and King Mickey were okay and got out of the Realm of Darkness too.

"Awww...but why? This place feels like paradise! Who would ever want to leave it?" Quartz wondered.

"Well..." Lucille started before her body started to glow. "W-whoa, hey, what's going on?"

In a matter of seconds, another body appeared just next to Lucille's. She almost did a double take when she saw a familiar pink-robed girl with the fox mask standing there. "Ava?!"

"Oooh, that was really weird...Lucille? Why...does my body feel...?" Ava looked down to realize that she had a physical body. "Huh?! I-!"

"Wait, so this isn't you in your ghostly form as usual?! You're real now?" Lucille jumped back.

"But...that shouldn't be possible. Our hearts have merged together. We can't exist at the same time."

"Something screwy is going on here. This can't be my home. We were inside a castle! Aren't we? Unless we somehow got sent all the way back home magically. And where's that hooded boy?" Lucille shook her head.

"Yes, I agree. I should not be here either unless..." Ava wondered.

"Wait, could this be the Realm of Dreams? I think Moira mentioned that place a few times. Could that be why you have a physical body now?"

Ava shook her head. "I don't think so. This doesn't feel like the Dream Realm, but this feels very similar to it. At least for as long as we're within this place, I'll take a physical form. You've always wanted me to be real, right Lucille?"

Lucille nodded. "I won't lie, I had thought about it. I felt bad that you lost your original body and had to live like a ghost now. So...I had hoped that some day you'd get your body back. Only in my dreams that could happen, huh?"

Ava smiled kindly. "You're so sweet. I think it's too late for me to ever get my body back, but I'm happy where I am now with you. Besides, you and Florian make wonderful company." Ava laughed.

"Master Ava! You have a body now?"

"Within this place, it would seem that way. I'm still unsure how this happened and why." Ava nodded.

Chi then sniffed and cried into her former Master's arms. "Waaaaah! I really missed you, Master Ava! I'm so happy I can hug you again, even if this is just a dream!" the Chirithy sobbed.

"Chi spoke so fondly of you when we first met her in Traverse Town. Now that I think about it, she first mistook me for you too." Lucille smiled softly.

"I'm sorry, Chi, you must have been very lonely. I'm glad that you've managed to live this long so we can see each other again like this." Ava gently stroked Chi's ears.

"You've arrived. Where you stand is a memory of Destiny Islands copied from the memories of your brother, Sora. I...just borrowed the card so we could escape Marluxia's grasp." The hooded boy returned, standing a bit of a distance away from Lucille and her friends.

"Hey, I was wondering where you ran off to. Thanks...for what you did back there. We really were in a tight spot between a guy who wanted to murder us so he can exact some kind of revenge and the other guy who wanted to drag Quartz and myself back to wherever he came from."

"You mean Axel," the boy confirmed.

"Do you know him?" Quartz asked.

"Not personally...but I have had brief encounters while he visited Castle Oblivion on missions. I also know Marluxia, he's scary...but even though I know the Marluxia we all saw was just a memory of him that thrives because of the illusionary artes in effect, he still terrifies me."

"It sounds like you've been around this castle for some time. You said this memory of Destiny Islands was copied from Sora. Then do you know where he is? Did he send you to help us?" Lucille asked.

"...You could say that." The boy seemed hesitant in responding. "I'm sorry...I'm not used...to socializing this much. Most people in this place ignored me."

"...Why?" Quartz frowned.

"..." The boy said nothing.

"Well, regardless of if you did it because Sora asked you or did it because you wanted to help, you still saved us. You have our thanks." Ava bowed respectfully.

"Where did she come from?" The boy tilted his head.

"Ah...it's a long story." Lucille laughed nervously. "Since this place is more or less safe, let's use this chance for a break from all the action."

"That might be a good ide-" The hooded boy started before he started a coughing fit, bringing both his hands together to cover where his mouth would be if his hood hadn't hidden his face from view.

"Hey, are you alright? Do you need to lie down?" Lucille became concerned and approached the boy.

"No, don't!" He backed up quickly.

"...?"

"You mustn't look at my face. I'm...I'm not ready to show it to anyone," the boy defended but somehow Ava got the feeling that was a lie.

"Well...okay, but we still think you should rest. Maybe you pushed yourself when you helped us," Florian offered.

The boy looked at the Seraph and slowly nodded. "Maybe...you're right. I'm sorry."

"You really need to stop apologizing for things you don't need to apologize for," Lucille sighed.

"Is there somewhere we could relax for now?" Quartz looked around for a safe place to rest.

"We do need to plan what we intend to do next, so taking this rare moment to rest would be a good idea. How about the islet that you, Sora, Riku and Kairi use as a hangout?" Ava suggested.

"Oh yeah! That could work, let's go." Lucille nodded.

Lucille led the way to where their hangout spot was. Hopefully it was included in this memory.

* * *

When they arrived at the islet, they stopped when they came to a bent-over Paopu Tree that Lucille recognized.

"This brings back memories." Lucille smiled. Touching the bark of the tree, even the tree felt just the same as the real one.

The boy sat down at the base of the tree while everyone simply just sat on the sand-covered ground below them.

"What's this stuff?" Quartz clasped a handful of the fine sand as it slipped through his fingers like water.

"That's sand. All beaches have them," Florian answered for him.

"So this is sand...and what's this?" He then picked up a small seashell.

"Oh, that's a thalassa shell. Kairi would collect these from the beach for her special good luck charm that she was making for Sora.

"Oh? Uh...what's a good luck charm?" Quartz wondered.

"Actually I would like to know too," The hooded boy voiced his curiosity.

"Well...to put it simply, a charm is like a special accessory that you make for someone you care about."

"I know they're not made from the same thing, but mine and Sora's necklaces were made by my Dad. He had the crown-shaped one and I got the curved heart. We never take them off. They're kinda like our good luck charms. Sora's lucky because he's got two," Lucille explained.

"An accessory you make for someone you care about...You can make them with these seashells?" The hooded boy spoke inquisitively.

"Yup, it was a pretty popular past-time back on the islands. Oh, if you want I can tell you more about the islands and how we got here and stuff-if you're interested." Lucille beamed.

"Should we really be doing this right now? And why are you so friendly to a stranger you barely know?" the hooded boy asked. The question sounded more like curiosity than just annoyance.

"Well...sometimes you don't need a reason," Ava answered.

"Yeah, Ava's right. You just do it because you feel like it. Besides, it's a great icebreaker! You can tell us about you as well-if you wanted, of course," Lucille agreed.

"Huh..." He sounded interested, looking at one of the shells. "I...suppose it wouldn't hurt."

* * *

Lucille explained the whole story to their hooded friend about how they got here.

"That's amazing! I didn't know there were so many other worlds. I only know a couple in comparison...So you basically washed up here after escaping the Realm of Darkness? I thought no one could escape that place without help."

"We did get help. Just from an unusual source." Lucille nodded.

"To think, though...your brother and you were able to accomplish so much in such a small amount of time. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious."

"Hmm...I don't know. Exploring the worlds outside my islands was an amazing experience, but if I had to choose to doom my world to the Heartless to escape it or remain inside my small world to keep it thriving, I'm not so sure if I'd be able to choose."

"You really care about your home world, don't you?" Quartz smiled. "I can see why. I really like it here. Even if this place is just a memory, it still feels so warm and fuzzy."

"...Are you sure this Quartz guy is his actual age?" the hooded boy asked.

"We honestly don't know. He's a mystery." Lucille shook her head.

"Hey, I'm totally comfortable with my age! Uh...well-at least I would be if I knew just how old I was," Quartz huffed.

"That reminds me, Quartz...Marluxia said that you were able to create Lux. Is that true?"

"Is that what you call that crystalized light stuff that I can form out of my magical energy?" Quartz questioned. "I guess if it is the same thing then I don't know how I ended up with them in the first place."

"You're right. I forgot you had amnesia. I'm sorry for asking such a silly question," Ava apologized.

Quartz shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. Can you tell me what Lux is, though? I've never heard it until now."

"Well, it's basically crystallized light like you described. Lux can be used to power all kinds of things. When myself, Gula and our three other friends were in charge of a faction each, we were working together to gather lux to protect the light of our world. Or at least-we were suppose to-but when the news about a possible traitor among us came out..."

"You guys ended up starting to doubt each other and distanced yourselves to a point where you couldn't trust each other anymore."

Ava sadly nodded. She brought both of her hands together and clasped them together on her lap. "I wanted to believe in them though. They were my friends. I couldn't imagine any of them being the traitor. Perhaps Gula was right. Maybe there was never a traitor in our time. The traitor the Book of Prophecies mentioned must have been forewarning about a future traitor."

"I wonder what the other three are like? I mean, we met Master Gula and he seemed like a pretty cool person."

Ava chuckled. "Gula's a little guarded, but he's actually quite sweet once you get to know him like I do."

"You mean when he's not trying to make Zen go crazy-or is it the other way around?" Lucille snickered.

"Oh Lucille, don't be like that. I'm sure they'll come to work together just fine-just like us," Ava reassured.

"I sure hope so. It feels like a herculean task trying to get Zen and Riku in the same room without them wanting to go for each other's throats.

"...Why would they do that?" The hooded boy asked.

Lucille shrugged. "Heck if I know. I don't think I'll ever get boys."

"You know, you're a super nice person," Quartz stated bluntly, based on his hunches when it came to judging people's natures.

"Excuse me?" The hooded boy shot his head up to Quartz in surprise.

"Well, you can see and hear Florian, right? Florian's a Seraph. So that must mean your heart is really sensitive and stuff-isn't that usually a sign that you're a nice person?" Quartz explained.

"I...don't know. I've never seen a Seraph before. I heard of the Seraphim, but I've never encountered one until now."

"Well, I think you're nice too. You did save us after all. We were stuck between two Nobodies who clearly had bad intentions for us. You took a huge risk to help," Florian agreed with Quartz's assessment.

"Oh...it's not that big of a deal...I'm not used to being treated so nice by others before-other than Namine...this is tricky."

"Why's that? Just what happened to you here?" Lucille wondered.

"I'd rather not say...I'm not worth worrying over." He shook his head. _'I really don't have much time left anyway...'_

"If you say so...but you can tell us when you feel up to it, okay?" Ava told him in a motherly-like tone.

"Uh...Sure." The hooded boy slowly nodded.

"That reminds me, we haven't heard your name. You heard ours, but we never got to ask about yours."

"My name...? My name is..."

* * *

Meanwhile on the thirteenth floor, Namine was busy putting Sora's memory back together like the way it was before coming to the castle. She had been working diligently on it since then, and Riku and King Mickey had been helping.

She wasn't sure what to make of Diz, but so far he didn't seem dangerous nor a bad person. He was certainly distant and cold to her, though, but she didn't let it bother her. Sora needed her help and she was determined to see it through.

However, she felt something was very wrong in the castle right now and decided to speak to Diz about it.

"Are you implying that the Nobody known as Marluxia is still alive?" Diz summarized.

"No, not in the way you are thinking-he's just a memory of the real Marluxia that was given living form by the seraphic artes around this castle. The illusionary artes are incredibly powerful-strong enough to even give someone like Marluxia life even after his body disappeared."

"It must be a self-defense mechanism of the castle, to prevent anymore outsiders from entering the castle-But we cannot allow this ' lingering memory' to do as it pleases. Especially if what you say is correct-that Sora's sister is in the castle."

"Yes, she might have heard about Sora and came here to save him." Namine nodded slowly.

"She's not too far from the truth, however, it would be catastrophic if either the Organization or this 'Memory Marluxia' get to her first."

"She's with others, so I'm sure that she'll be safe by their side. Thankfully, her memories weren't too badly affected due to my...meddling."

"Yes, indeed. That certainly would be more trouble if we had to restore her memory back to the way it was along with Sora's. Protecting Sora from the Organization's grasp is hard enough."

"I...hope Zero is doing okay...I haven't seen him a long time, but I know he'll help her."

"The prototype replica? That creature is still _alive_?" Diz questioned.

"Don't call him that!" Namine raised her voice a little before lowering it again. "Please, don't say that about him. He's a kind and gentle person. Even if he's a replica, he's been helping us in the shadows of the castle."

"But isn't he considered a failed specimen of their replica program for a reason? You are foolish to place your trust in such a thing. I will contact Riku and the king. I trust them more than some flawed replica created by the Organization." Diz shook his head.

Diz walked away in order to contact Riku and King Mickey to return to the castle. Namine sighed and looked back at the egg-shaped capsule that held Sora within.

"Sora...I promise I'll get your sister to the safety of this floor." She then thought about the prototype replica, the one that Vexen vehemently saw as a failure due to being unable to duplicate Sora's powers and...the fact that his body was slowly decaying.

"Zero..." Namine closed her eyes and clasped her hands together in a prayer. "Please don't push yourself too hard. There's only so much your heart can take before...it breaks."

* * *

And that's episode 2 done! This one went through quite a few changes before deciding on this. I had this story all planned out too. It's funny that it's harder to write it out than how it worked in my head. XD

Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, alerted and took the time to read this story. Your support from the first chapter had been amazing! =3

And a huge thank you to the guest reviewers who added a penname, as this helps me alot in making sure I give the proper answers to the right people. =D So thank you again!

With no further ado, it's review time! =D

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Gry21** : Thank you for your review! They will be going through a bunch of memory worlds, who knows? Maybe they might end up in a world that they shouldn't know about just like how Sora didn't really know about Twilight Town even though it's in his memory. ;) As for Marluxia and Medea, you already know about Marluxia, but will Medea make an appearance? We'll see. =3

 **Mysterygirl145** : Thank you for your review! And thank you for liking Quartz! =D Quartz actually has an important role in Dream Drop Distance, but for now his importance will remain hush hush. But I'll drop hints here and there. ;) I can't say too much otherwise it'll give it away. XD

As for Xemnas, you could say that since he's the Nobody of you-know-who. =3 And Marluxia might have had plans for her if Lucille had arrived before his untimely death. XD But nah, he just wants to kill her since he wants Sora to suffer the pain of losing someone important as his type of revenge against Sora. =P

 **Ctran** : Thank you for the review! Oh yeah, this isn't going to be a simple walk up a flight of stairs for Lucille and the others. If Sora and Riku had to go through memory worlds, she does too. =P But as you saw in this chapter, Ava seems to possess a physical form only within the memory worlds themselves. I plan to have Ava become more active in this particular fan fic. Who knows, maybe Lucille will discover a method to harness Ava's powers more effectively when out of the memory worlds later in the story? Maybe by visiting a certain world? =3

 **Readingchameleon** : Thank you for the review! Also thank you, I know Chain of Memories (Aka the children's card game of the KH series XD) isn't a favorite of a lot of fans, so I wanted to make it different and not just use Sora or Riku's stories as templates to make it more interesting for those who would otherwise be uninterested since, after all, we've got the game. Why read it all over again in fan fic form? Hence, this original plot. Taking a lot of liberties here, but it's kinda fun. =D

I know that this probably would never happen canonically in the games, but it doesn't hurt to have it here instead. =3 I hope you continue to enjoy it! =D

 **Heart** : Thank you for the review! I have actually thought about this. While I never intended to add Dreamworks movies (mostly because I haven't watched that many and I want to stay as close to Disney-owned movies as possible), I had thought of adding other games from different companies like the Tales of Series and Zelda, for example. Seriously, I could literally fill the whole quota of worlds with just the Tales of games alone. XD

And I had so wanted to add some Tales of characters that Lucille and the others could have met in Traverse Town or something. XD

But I thought that not everyone would be on-board with the idea and might even dislike the idea of having other games or movies from different companies and part of Kingdom Hearts' charm was how they were able to meld Final Fantasy elements and Disney elements together.

So, sadly, I have to decline your suggestion. Thank you, though, for the idea. =3

Although, I won't lie, I kinda still want to add Tales of elements and even Hyrule from Legend of Zelda as worlds or characters you could encounter, but...I think it might be best for me to stay as close to the current formula.

However, I am thinking of adding some Final Fantasy worlds. =3 (Something that I wish Square-Enix would finally do. XD) Cornelia is definitely one of the worlds that I'm thinking of adding in KH2. I might think about doing more of them if there's enough interest, but they'll have to be worlds that can work in the KH universe, so places like Midgar or Spira wouldn't really work out. =3

 **Chirithy564** : Thank you for the review! lol, glad you like Quartz! XD I'm surprised at how well Quartz has warmed up according to the feedback from Episode 1. He is precious, though, like a small ball of innocence. =3 There's actually a reason why he's like this, though, but it won't be properly revealed until Dream Drop Distance. But I'll still add hints here and there. =3

I hope you continue to enjoy the fan fic. =D

 **Visitor** : I have seen that film! =D And while I agree that Quest for Camelot would fit into the KH universe fantastically, it's like I explained to Heart. I've decided to stay close to Disney-owned movies and not take properties from other companies since some people might not like the idea. It's unfortunate that it comes from Warner Bros (not that Warner Bros is a bad studio, not by a long shot), but it might as well pass for a Disney film since it doesn't feel like a movie from Warner Bros. XD

I quite liked that film too. =(

 **KnightLawn** : Thank you for your review! I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to do so for the future chapters and fan fics ahead. =3

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

So then, what will happen now? =D Find out in the next chapter!

Until next episode, happy reading, folks!

Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	3. Episode 3: The Flurry of Dancing Flames

**Episode 3: The Flurry Of Dancing Flames**

* * *

"So your name is Zero, huh?" Lucille repeated the name on her lips.

The hooded boy known as Zero simply nodded silently.

"Sounds so mysterious~" Quartz beamed.

"You...think so?" Zero sounded surprised. "I never really thought about it. I just saw it as a number."

"Just a number?" Lucille repeated in confusion.

"Never mind..." Zero shook his head.

"So, how do we plan to get further into the castle? We have that psychopathic ghost after us," Chi asked, diverting their conversation back to the main problem.

"You're looking for Sora, right? I know where he is-I can help get you to him."

"Really? Then again, didn't you say Sora sent you to help us?"

"Well...sort of...it wasn't exactly Sora. It's hard to explain." Zero shook his head.

"Do you know how to get pass that...who was it again? Marluxia?" Ava questioned

Zero nodded. "It's a long way around but it works in our favor. The Marluxia we saw was a living illusion powered by the illusionary artes of Castle Oblivion-which are already incredibly powerful on their own. However, he can't follow us through other memory worlds since his memory is bound to only Castle Oblivion.

"But when we leave this memory world...what if he's waiting for us?" Chi wondered.

"I'll admit it, we might encounter him many times since he can go to any floor within the castle-except one-the thirteenth floor. But I can help even the playing field. I can mimic and copy the attacks of others, essentially duplicating their abilities as my own."

"Oh yeah, you were able to hit Marluxia back when we met in the foyer," Florian recalled.

"Yes, I had help from a certain someone who allowed me to borrow their powers for as long as I needed them to complete my goal to make sure you reach the thirteenth floor. That's where you'll find Sora and his friends."

"Who's this person?" Lucille asked. "We could use their help in fighting Marluxia too."

"I'm sorry. I can't say. I promised that person I wouldn't reveal who they were. She didn't want the Organization to figure out she was hiding within the castle."

"She?" Florian tilted his head in puzzlement.

"Can you at least tell us what these powers are? If it's okay to ask," Ava asked kindly.

Zero seemed hesitant before shaking his head again.

"I understand. So how are going to get to the thirteenth floor?"

"We'll need more memory cards. I only had the Destiny Islands card on me that I borrowed from Namine, so we'll need to copy more cards from someone's memory in order to climb up the castle," Zero explained.

"Namine? Who's that?"

"She's actually the one who sent me to find you. She's helping Sora right now, so she sent me to help you reach the floor where both of them are," Zero answered.

"How do you make more memory cards?" Ava wondered.

"Um...This is going to sound awkward, but do you mind if I use your memories, Lucille?

"My memories?"

"There is a shortcut I know of. So if I could copy your memories from you, that should be enough for us reach the thirteenth floor."

"There's really a shortcut in this place?" Chi asked curiously.

"When you've lived in this dreary place for your whole existence, you tend to stumble on secrets that not even the other organization members know about. It's pretty exciting." Zero in a rare moment seemed happy and excitable about the fact that he'd found that secret, which was different from his usual calm and collected nature.

"I can't see the harm in allowing Zero to copy my memory, right guys?" Lucille asked the others.

Florian looked concerned. "It won't hurt, will it?" Florian asked.

Zero shook his head. "No, the process is painless-just a sample would be enough. Don't worry, Lucille's memories will be fine. I'm just simply duplicating them."

"How come you can't copy your own memories?" Quartz asked bluntly.

"That's the one thing I can't do with my ability. I can copy other people's powers and abilities, but I can't copy my own. Perhaps that's because all I can do is copy others. I don't have anything that's unique to me," Zero answered sadly.

"I-I'm sorry Zero! I didn't mean to make you sad," Quartz quickly apologized.

Zero shook his head. "Don't worry, I've accepted this fact a long time ago. But...it does make me feel..." Zero trailed off and sighed. He then stood up and started to focus his power. "Alright, I'll be sure to make this quick."

For a mere few seconds, Lucille's body glowed and, before they knew it, the glow faded and in Zero's hands were multiple memory cards. "There we go. All done."

"Wow, that felt a little ticklish, but it didn't hurt at all," Lucille noted.

"Did you really replicate someone's memories? Just like that?" Ava asked.

Zero nodded. "Like I said, the process of creating memory cards is not dangerous nor painful. It's basically just putting the sample of your memory into a physical form, which is turned into these cards."

"...Um." Quartz blinked.

"Right...you didn't understand a word I just said. How do I explain this...? Basically when I took a copy of the world you remembered, I turned it all into these memory cards, and using Castle Oblivion's illusionary seraphic artes, it can transform these cards into the worlds as you remember them. You'd basically still be inside the castle, but you wouldn't be at the same time. So it's like...an illusion within an illusion?" Zero tried to put it into words, but everyone simply had puzzled looks on their faces.

"Never mind, I can tell by your faces I'm just confusing you even more. I'm sorry, I'm awful at explaining things," Zero sighed and apologized.

Lucille smiled. "You tried. I suppose the best way to see if these memory cards really do the trick is if we try them out ourselves."

Florian stood up and looked out to the ocean which he knew was just an illusion. "I still can't believe this is all just an illusion. It looks and feels so real. Master Unei is truly amazing to have developed such a powerful illusion arte like this."

"I suppose that was the intent-to make the world feel so real that you would not be able to tell real from fake, to trap those who would wander into this castle for all eternity-until they are lost into oblivion." Zero looked out at the ocean as well.

"They wanted people to get lost in the castle? What are they hiding here that's so secretive?" Lucille wondered.

"..." Zero remained quiet. He suddenly became more alert when he looked up to the sky and saw a shift in the memory world. "Oh no..."

"Uhh...What's the 'oh no' for?" Quartz asked in concern.

Suddenly the skies went from beautiful sky blue into powerful dark storm. It even almost made Chi fall over from the pressure of the wind, but Ava managed to catch her.

"Where did this storm come from?!" Chi squeaked.

"Lucille! Isn't this what happened on the night of the storm?" Ava recalled.

Lucille nodded. "This is what happened when our islands were invaded by the Heartless, but how? I thought this was just a memory. Did it record the incident as well?" Even in this illusion world, the winds howled and screamed. The ocean-once calm and serene-now looked like a menacing force of nature.

The ground below them shook as the Islet was pulled out from the ocean and started to levitate higher in the air.

"Waaahh! The islet is being pulled away from the rest of the island!" Quartz panicked.

"It's Marluxia! He knows he can't come enter these worlds with the way he is now, but he's calling the Heartless to do his dirty work for him!" Zero realized.

"He can do that? Even though he's just a memory?" Lucille asked.

Zero nodded. "Just because he's a ghost of the original Marluxia, doesn't mean he can't summon the Heartless from the grave."

As if on cue, Heartless started to seep out of the ground and towards them.

Ava summoned her keyblade while Lucille summoned the Lux Arma. "Then we'll just have to fight through them," Ava answered.

"Heh, now you're speaking my language." Lucille grinned.

"If we can find the leader, the other Heartless will run away," Zero advised.

Lucille nodded. "Florian, you're better at sensing Heartless, so we'll leave you to find the leader."

Florian nodded. "Got it. I'm sure it must be nearby in order to give orders to the smaller ones."

Quartz also got ready to fight.

"I thought you hated fighting," Lucille commented.

"Not if they threaten my friends. I won't let them get away with that, Heartless or no," Quartz answered. He called forth what looked like a crystal staff. "Don't ask me, I don't know how I got this either. It just comes into my hands whenever I need something to protect myself," Quartz added.

Lucille shrugged. "I suppose I can't talk given how I got the Lux Arma."

"Stay sharp, everyone," Ava told everyone before they charged towards the Heartless.

* * *

Meanwhile, back outside Castle Oblivion, three puffs of rainbow smoke appeared. Zen and Oswald landed on the ground roughly while Moira landed gracefully like a ballerina.

"See? I told ya I'd get us to where Lulu is! Nothing is too great for the powerful and magnificent Moira Delune! Ohohohohoho!" Moira bragged loudly.

"Work on dropping your passengers off more carefully next time!" Oswald huffed, getting up and brushing the dirt off his arms.

"How did we agree to tag along with the witch?" Zen grumbled as he also got up.

"If it weren't for me, you two would still be trying to find Lulu all by yourselves. This world's been closed off by all inter-space routes. It's even almost impossible for anyone to wash up in this world. Not unless you're like me and Master Matoya and know the back-doors of every world," Moira smugly stated.

"Hate to admit it-but she's right. Even the Star Map couldn't pick this place up. It's just like Memoria." Oswald sighed. Ever since they got separated when Lucille, Florian and Chi decided to stay behind at the other side to buy enough time for them to close the door for good, Zen and Oswald had been trying to find them. When the worlds that were lost to the Heartless were restored, they found themselves on Twilight Town, the same world where they entered the Realm of Darkness from.

Not even the Seraph Chrono knew where they were when they asked him, but he suggested getting Moira's help since, being Matoya's student-a powerful Elder Seraph protecting Memoria, a world literally made from the memoires of countless worlds-she would know of a way to track them down.

Lo and behold, here they were. It annoyed Zen to no end that they had to rely on that crazy witch's help, but even he couldn't deny that Moira was their best chance of finding Lucille and the others again.

Oh, Zen was going to give that stupid brunette island girl a piece of his mind when they met again.

"Do you think she's here?" Zen asked Gula.

 _"Yeah, I can barely sense it-but Ava's somewhere in this castle. And if Ava's here, then her successor Lucille is with her,"_ Gula confirmed. _"Something's wrong, though, I can usually sense Ava very well, but this castle seems to muffle it somehow."_

"That settles it, we're going in there then." Oswald boldly marched towards the castle doors.

"Just so you know, there's this group called Organization XIII that uses this castle as a hangout spot and research facility, and they might have an unhealthy obsession with all things ancient and related to Kingdom Hearts. I'm talking about your Foreteller buddies. They're prime information sources about all things Kingdom Hearts," Moira informed.

"I'm with Oswald. We came to save them. You really think something like that is going to stop us? This Organization is welcome to try and kill or capture us. I'll be happy to give them a fight," Zen told Moira.

"Oooh~ I never thought I'd see this reaction from you, Zenny-boy. First time for everything I guess." Moira shrugged.

"Okay, say that one more time, and I'm going to ram this claw right through you." Zen's glare was deadly, showing his bandaged arm.

"Ah, there's the moody claw-boy that I know~" Moira teased.

"How's the arm doing anyway, Zen? Did Merlin's magic help?" Oswald asked.

Zen nodded. "Yeah, that Merlin is a miracle worker. He gave me bandage wraps that were an upgrade from the ones I was using before. Apparently, it makes the darkness inside my arm more subdued-so hopefully that means no more episodes of my claw trying to take control like it did back in the Realm of Darkness," Zen explained, looking at his bandaged arm.

While they were trying to search for their friends, they made a quick stop to Merlin's place, who was busy packing his things since he planned to move to Hallow Bastion-or Radiant Garden rather-to help with the restoration. They explained about what happened with Zen's arm during their time in the Realm of Darkness.

After some chewing out from the old wizard about how reckless they were going in there without consulting him, he didn't waste any time to make some stronger bandages through is magic. He even gave him extras, so he could change them when he felt the power was starting to wane on the current bandage he was using.

"Mind your step, though-this place is literally layered thick in ancient illusion seraphic artes. I'm talking advanced level stuff here. If you end up lost in this place, you stay lost," Moira warned.

"Thanks for the warning." Oswald rolled his eyes. He then opened the castle doors and peaked inside to see if anyone was there only to see no one. "Looks like the foyer's empty," Oswald noted.

"I don't like this. It's too quiet," Gula warned.

"Look at it this way-we can sneak inside without anyone knowing we're here," Oswald optimistically noted.

"What if we run into this Organization XII?" Zen questioned. "Not that I mind fighting any that wants a death wish granted."

"We'll worry about that when we see them," Moira told him.

"We? Who said you were coming?" Zen crossed his arms.

"Says me, naturally-I have my duty as an observer to make sure you guys get reunited with Lulu. What are you going to do? Kick me out? I can easily just poof myself back in here using my magic. Being an expert in using Dream Eaters and the Dream Realm itself does have its perks." Moira smirked.

"...I hate you."

"I hate you too," Moira countered easily.

"Would you two knock it off?" Oswald tapped his foot in his annoyance. "We came here to save our friends-the sooner we do that, the quicker we can get outta here," Oswald told them.

"Hmmm...I feel like there's something I'm missing about this place." Moira had a feeling there was something she forgot to mention. Just then, Moira's Meow Wow popped into the world from the Dream Realm where it resided and mewed at Moira in a language that only Moira could seem to understand.

"What's that? You're saying you've already found them? You work fast, little buddy." Moira petted her Dream Eater.

"Translation?" Oswald asked.

"I had my Meow Wow scout ahead to see where they are. Right now, they're in a memory world, but they'll most likely exit it on the 3rd floor of the castle, as Meow Wow's scent seems to lead there."

"They skipped the first two floors? How?" Oswald raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno. Guess they're using some kind of special shortcut that allows them to skip floors." Moira shrugged.

"Then we need to get to the third floor too."

Moira beamed. "Alright, time for the Magnificent Moira Delune to shine once again~" She turned to her Dream Eater. "You know what to do, work your magic, my minion~"

Meow Wow nodded and waddled over to the door. It seemed to cast a spell that morphed the door into a staircase further up the castle.

"It's a special spell that Master Matoya taught me in case of emergencies like this." Moira smirked proudly and started to walk forward.

"...I'm not going to lie. That's pretty neat," Zen admitted.

 _"Works for me. If it can get us through the castle easier, that means we can find the others faster,"_ Gula told Zen.

"Yeah, no kidding." Zen nodded.

"Let's go, we don't want to get left behind," Oswald told Zen.

They followed after Moira through the portal that Moira's Dream Eater created. _'You better be okay, Lucille. I'm going to be mad if you die on me.'_

* * *

Back on the now ruined memory world of Destiny Islands, Lucille and her friends were fighting off the smaller Heartless, but they had yet to find their leader.

"Ahhh! There's no end to them!" Lucille cried out in frustration.

"Any luck on finding the leader yet?" Ava turned to Florian.

Florian had been trying to both fight and pinpoint the location of the source of the Heartless but was having no luck. "It's no good! There's too many Heartless. I can't sense anything with this much darkness in the air." Florian shook his head.

Zero nodded. "Right, then we just need to take most of them out in one fell swoop." He approached Quartz and gave a quick apologetic bow. "Sorry about this, I need to copy your ability for a moment."

"Huh?" Quartz blinked in confusion, but then he saw his body glow briefly before it faded as Zero's body glowed, a new power coursing through him.

"Whoa! That felt...kinda weird." Quartz shivered from the sensation.

Zero then charged right into the swarm of Heartless.

"Zero! That's dangerous, come back!" Ava called out to stop him.

Just then, a powerful explosion of light engulfed the small army of small Heartless, incinerating them in the blast.

Zero, however, seemed unharmed and fine. "Can you sense it now?" Zero looked over his shoulder to ask the small Seraph.

Florian keenly sensed around until he finally spotted it. "Found it! It's behind us!" Florian answered, turning around in the direction of where the leader was.

"But I don't see anyone there," Lucille noted.

"It must have blended in with the world itself. Getting it to show itself will be difficult," Ava stated.

Zero understood what needed to be done. "Alright, I've got this." Still harnessing Quartz's power that he copied, he formed a large ball of crystalized light. "Tell me who the enemy is."

Florian pointed to where the exact location was. Using Florian's suggestion, he fired the ball of light right into the direction that Florian was pointing. Zero released the ball of light in the direction that Florian was pointing in.

It would prove that Florian's hunch was right-the ball of light struck the giant Darkside Heartless directly, breaking the illusion that it had previously.

"Ava, now!" Lucille turned to Ava, who nodded in understanding. Both Lucille and Ava ran towards the Darkside with the Lux Arma and Ava's keyblade armed and ready.

In perfect union, they jumped and created a X-slash attack, cleanly slicings through the Darkside, releasing the heart it held captive thanks to Ava's keyblade.

Like Zero had said, with the leader now destroyed, the smaller Heartless scampered away, sinking back into the ground.

"Whew...Thank god that's over," Lucille sighed in relief.

"Is everyone alright?" Ava dismissed her keyblade and checked on everyone.

Lucille brightly beamed. "Yeah, a little tired but not a scratch on me at all. Are you okay, Flo?"

Florian nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Quartz called away his staff and turned to Zero to ask if he was okay, but he had a look of worry when he saw him.

"Guys! Something's wrong with Zero!" Quartz quickly called out to get their attention. Chi hopped over to Zero's side, who had fallen to his knees, using his arms as support as he took large gasps of air.

"Zero! Are you alright?" Lucille hurried over and bent down to his level.

"Oh no, did he overexert himself?" Ava asked with concern.

"I'm...fine," Zero tried to reassure.

"You're not fine! You look like you're about to collapse!" Quartz shot down.

"I might...have used a little too much of my power at once. I'll be fine, I've been through worse pain than this," Zero admitted.

"Zero...are you really okay?" Florian frowned.

Zero nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. This happens all the time." He managed to pull himself back up, although he was still unsteady on his feet. "It's nothing new."

"If you say so, but you looked like you're really struggling." Lucille was still skeptical but decided to give Zero the benefit of the doubt.

"We should get out of this memory world before Marluxia decides to send more of them here," Zero told them, trying to pull their attention away from his moment of weakness.

"I concur. He's bound to send more after us if we remain here," Chi agreed.

"How did he locate this place, though? I thought he couldn't get inside the memory worlds." Quartz seemed confused.

"Yes...that's a little concerning. Could his illusion be getting stronger somehow?" Zero noted before thinking to himself.

"You know, I'm a little sad that I never got to see Tidus, Selphie or Wakka. Even if this is just a memory, they should be here." Lucille looked at the now ruined playground island that was twisted and altered when the memory turned into the moment the dark storm hit the islands.

"The memory of this Destiny Islands...didn't have them included, so you wouldn't have encountered them even if we weren't attacked just now," Zero answered.

"I see...This is all confusing. I never thought I'd actually come to miss those guys along with my parents. I must be getting homesick." Lucille sighed.

Ava patted her back reassuringly. "We'll go home someday."

Florian nodded. "Yeah, and this time it won't look like this place. They'll be just like they were before the storm happened."

Lucille smiled. "I know. I'm sorry, you two. I know we've got bigger things to worry about, but here I am pining for home.I must look pathetic."

"...Home...I wonder how that feels..." Zero whispered quietly to himself.

"So how do we get out of here?" Quartz looked around the small islet that had been torn apart and ruined. Even the sky still looked like it was still swirling with the dark storm.

"I know the way." Zero motioned them to follow him. He took out a card and summoned a door in front of them. With Zero going through first, the others followed, which brought them out of Destiny Island and back into Castle Oblivion.

* * *

They found themselves on another floor that looked different from the foyer, but still had the same blinding yet bland colour of white all around the room.

The first thing Lucille noticed when they were back in the real world was that Ava was no where to be found.

"Ava? Ava, where did you go?" Lucille called out, trying to look for the pink-robed foreteller.

 _"Don't worry, I'm here. It looks like I was right. I can only take physical form in the memory worlds. When we came back to the castle itself, I found myself back inside your heart,"_ Ava reassured.

"Whew, that's a relief. For a minute I thought you got stuck back in that world," Lucille sighed in relief.

"Why are these floors always so white?" Quartz wondered. "Would it hurt to add a bit of colour in this place?"

"That's a good point. So far all the floors have been this colour. I think we have to assume that everywhere in this castle will be white," Florian noted.

Zero looked around carefully. "I think we're alright to proceed. I don't see Marluxia."

Just then, Lucille boldly took hold of Zero and pulled him in to dodge a fiery chakram.

"Whoa! That was so close!" Lucille jumped back in surprise.

"Well well, looks like my hunch was right after all~" Axel smirked.

"You! You're Axel! Why did you do that?! You could have hurt Zero!" Lucille barked.

"That was the idea." Axel rolled his eyes. "Without your little guide giving you the shortcut around this place, you would have to climb the castle the same way your brother did. You're technically cheating," Axel teased.

"Oh like you would play by the rules either! You're the one that tried to attack an unarmed person!" Lucille spat back.

"Are you okay, Zero?" Quartz asked.

"Y-yes. Why did you...do that?" Zero seemed genuinely confused.

"Huh? You mean why did I pull you out of the way of that attack? We're friends. We always have each other's backs." Lucille beamed.

"..." Zero was silent, but Quartz could have sworn that behind that hood was a dumbfounded face. "Friends?"

"C'mon, don't confuse the thing with concepts like that. It's already lived longer than it should have already." Axel shook his head.

"Hey, he's not a thing!" Florian argued back although it fell on deaf ears. So Lucille voiced his words for him.

"Zero is not a thing. Okay, so maybe he's got secrets that he wants to keep to himself. We all have secrets like that. He's still our friend, though. He helped us escape from both you and that psycho illusion that's haunting the place. Are you trying to pick a fight with us or what?"

"...You really don't have any idea just what or who Zero is, do you? I wonder if you would feel the same way if you knew the truth about that puppet's creation," Axel sighed.

"Creation? Puppet?" Florian repeated on confusion.

"Axel. I don't want to fight you. We just want to get to the thirteenth floor to speak with Namine. You even helped Namine escape from Marluxia. Please, can't you just ignore your orders this one time?" Zero tried to reason.

"Zero?" Lucille blinked.

"Axel...isn't like the other Nobodies. He's not as bad as the others," Zero simply answered.

Quartz blinked. "But he's calling you awful things. How is he not as bad as the others?"

"You're giving me too much credit. I just did that to stop Marluxia's plan from coming to fruition. It wasn't out of any sympathy. Nobodies don't have hearts, remember? Even if we think we do," Axel brushed away.

"Is that really true, though? I don't think your leader is telling you the truth." Quartz shook his head. "I'm the proof of that. If I was capable of growing a heart of my own when there wasn't one there before, then it should be possible for any of the Nobodies!"

"Look, if you're trying to get me to look the other way, you're wasting your time. I've got a job to do and that's bringing you and Sora's sister in," Axel told them.

"So much for trying to reason with you," Lucille scoffed.

"Axel..." Zero sounded hurt.

"Sorry. You should have died when Vexen tried to dispose of you. You're just prolonging the inevitable, you know. I'll make it quick for you." They could have sworn that they heard something like guilt laced somewhere in his voice, but it was masked well.

"What are you talking about? Who's Vexen? And what did you mean he tried to dispose of Zero?" Lucille demanded.

"Telling would just ruin the mystery, wouldn't it?" Axel returned to his teasing tone. "Why not try asking the mimic himself if you survive against me? After all this running around you made me do, don't disappoint me now. Give me a good show," Axel challenged.

"Quartz, can you stay behind us and keep an eye on Zero?" Lucille asked.

"Huh?" Quartz blinked.

"Are you planning to fight him alone? But he's dangerous! He's one of the most fearsome members of the Organization!" Zero warned.

Lucille smirked. "Don't worry, I don't plan on losing to this creep. I've got Florian to help me."

Florian nodded. "I'll keep her safe," he reassured the black hooded boy.

"But..."

"Are you serious? You're defending it?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Zero's a he-not an it. And yes, I don't care what you say-Zero is Zero," Lucille retorted.

"If you ask me, you're wasting time. That kid's fate has been sealed already. Oh well, a one-on-one match, huh? Works for me." Axel smirked and fired up his chakrams, allowing the flames to engulf them.

Axel then made the first move and launched an attack on her.

Lucille brought up the Lux Arma to block the attack and then summoned Ava's keyblade in her free hand quickly to strengthen her block.

With enough strength, she pushed him back, causing him to stumble for a few moments before Lucille started a twin flurry of slashes from both blades. Axel was able to use the chakrams to block each one, though, and deliver a kick to Lucille's stomach, causing her to be thrown into the far side of the room and slammed into the castle walls.

"Binding Chains!" Florian quickly reacted and casted his signature arte, allowing chains of light to bind Axel movements.

"Ugh! What? Why can't I move?" Axel was taken aback by the surprise spell and tried to struggle out of it.

"Good work, Florian!" Quartz cheered from the sidelines.

"Wow..." Zero was amazed by the spell. Were all Seraphim capable of this?

"Oh, I get it now. You have a little Seraph buddy, don't you? That's who you've been talking to this whole time." Axel gritted his teeth.

"So you figured it out, huh?" Lucille slowly got up, although her body still hurt from Axel's attack.

"Lucille! Are you okay?" Florian asked her while keeping the arte going.

Lucille nodded. "After what we've been through-this is nothing," Lucille reassured through her pain. "Ow, but he sure packs a punch."

"That's dirty fighting. I thought you were fighting by yourself," Axel taunted.

"As if you would play fair either," Lucille retorted.

"Touche." Axel shrugged. "Unfortunately for you, I'm resourceful." He then smirked.

"What?"

Axel casted a huge burst of fire, which resulted in Florian losing his grip and falling back to the ground, the chains disappearing as soon as the arte faded.

"Florian!" Lucille rushed over to the Seraph's side.

"I'm okay...I lost control of my arte. I'm sorry." Florian apologized

Lucille shook her head. "Don't worry about that. We'll just have to fight him normally."

"You think you can do that?" Axel smirked.

Lucille challenged back. "I guess we'll find out." Lucille jumped into another attack, trying to launch a surprise slash with the Lux Arma, but Axel jumped back and casted an inferno of flames that she barely managed to dodge most of. However, one of Axel's flames singed her arm.

She gritted her teeth in pain and, while still holding the Lux Arma in her hand, she brought her hand over to where she got burned.

"Lucille, hold on!" Florian was quick to focus on a healing spell to help soothe the burn injury.

"You're not very experienced, are you?" Axel teased.

"Shut it! I might not be as good as Sora or Riku, but I can still kick your butt!" Lucille barked.

"Heh, you're fearless, I'll give you that. You remind me of a certain blonde that I know," Axel complimented. "However, I'm far above your level. Why not just hand yourself over now, so I don't have to bring you back with bruises and fire-burns?"

"Sorry, I have no intention of doing that. You'll have to take our dead bodies back to your overlord before that happens."

Axel sighed. "Man, I hate these icky jobs." He casted another fire attack at Lucille that took her completely by surprise and took the full brunt of the attack, resulting in more fire-burns over her body. Florian gasped in horror and ran to her side.

"Lady Lucille!" Chi was horrified and ran over to Lucille's side as well.

"Just remember, you asked for this, kid," Axel scoffed.

Lucille slowly got back up, although she was clearly struggling.

"Lucille! You're hurt real bad. You need to let me heal you," Florian warned.

"But...if we don't do anything...Who will save Sora from this castle?" Lucille struggled to speak out.

 _"But Lucille-!"_ Ava also tried to convince the brunette girl to not continue fighting.

"Geez, kid! Just give up already! You still plan on fighting?!"

Lucille kept both the Lux Arma and Ava's keyblade up and gave a defiant look. "There's no way I'll lose to you. I've got people important to me to still search for. I won't let you stop me."

Axel shook his head. "You're pushing it. Stop resisting and-" Axel started before Zero charged in between the both of them and acted as a shield to Lucille. "Don't."

"You really think I'm going to hesitate to attack you?" Axel challenged.

"I don't matter-cut me down if you want. However, I won't let you take either Lucille or Quartz back. They're...my friends!"

Axel blinked. "When...did you grow such a backbone? You used be to so lifeless. No matter, I'm going to complete this mission no matter what. Then I'll go and take care of that memory of Marluxia. I can't allow something that dangerous to haunt this castle. The superior would have my head if we lost Castle Oblivion to him of all people." Axel was about to strike and Zero braced himself for his death.

But it never came. Axel was taken by surprise when he felt a powerful blast of dark energy throw him off his feet and slammed right into the castle walls.

"You wanna bet on that?" A familiar voice that Lucille, Florian and Chi recognized almost immediately.

"Zen?!"

It was indeed Zen, Oswald and even Moira, who had arrived just in the nick of time.

"Holy cow, Lucille! What happened to ya?!" Oswald was greatly concerned by all the burn injuries Lucille had.

"Heh, I'm okay. Just a bit burned," Lucille brushed off. "I can't believe you guys are here. How did you find us?" Lucille then beamed.

"You stupid idiot! You really didn't think we wouldn't go look for you after you pulled that crazy stunt?!" Zen cried out.

 _"Zen, save it for later when we're away from this floor. We need to move now while we've stunned that Nobody!"_ Gula warned.

Zen grunted but agreed with Gula's advice. He pushed past Zero and helped Lucille up. "Think you'll be able to make it to the next floor?"

Lucille nodded. "I know this looks bad, but it's not as serious as it looks."

Zen just glared but then turned back at the black hooded boy behind him. "You're coming with us as well. You've got some explaining to do."

Zero slowly nodded.

"C'mon, haul your butts! We've got to go before that Organization thug gets back up," Moira called to them and ordered her Dream Eater to repeat the same spell as before.

Meow Wow did exactly that and created a staircase that led up to the next floor. "This will take us to the next floor!"

Not wasting any time, everyone ran through the portal before Meow Wow slipped in last and closed it behind the Dream Eater.

Axel grunted in pain and noticed his prey had gotten away yet again. "You got lucky this time. So that's the boy with the claw arm I heard so much about from Saix."

As he got back up, he thought about Zero and his sudden growth since he last saw him before he was sentenced to be disposed of by Vexen. "I can't help but see Roxas when I see that kid's face." He sighed. "I can't get distracted by that-no matter what it looks like. He's still nothing but a replica living on borrowed time."

Axel had a pained look but it wasn't coming from his injuries. He didn't know where this feeling was coming from. "Why do I feel like scum, though, for thinking that? This isn't like me at all."

* * *

"Whew! Safe!" Moira sighed in relief.

"Are you alright, Lucille?! Do you need first aid?" Quartz panicked.

"Quartz, I'm fine. Really," Lucille reassured the panicking Nobody, but she flinched as her body reacted to the burns.

"Florian, think you can heal her burns?" Oswald asked the Seraph.

Florian nodded. "Of course." He then sat down next to Lucille and his hand started to glow with healing magic. "This might hurt a little, but it will get rid of the burns."

Lucille nodded. "Don't worry. I'm a tough girl." She allowed Florian to proceed with the healing, but he wasn't wrong-it did hurt a bit.

"You're such an idiot. Fighting a powerful enemy like that alone-that was reckless." Zen huffed but he took out Merlin's spare bandages and wrapped it around one of Lucille's burns.

"I know this isn't much, but Merlin's magic is pretty strong. While Florian's magic would be enough, Merlin's magic will help if you need to restore your magic energy faster." Zen tied it off on Lucille's right arm. "And it'll help us track you down if we get separated again."

"...Zen...I'm sorry. I made you and Oswald worry about us," Lucille apologized.

"Damn right you did." Zen crossed his arms.

Lucille then hugged Zen tightly, taking the greenette by complete surprise. "I'm really glad you guys came, though. We were really in trouble there. Although I acted tough, I don't think I would have been able to do it alone."

Zen hesitated at first but slowly returned it. "You have a habit of attracting trouble. Next time, don't leave us behind. We were able to find you again in time, but next time we might not be so lucky. You scared us, you know."

"Really? You, scared?" Lucille asked.

Zen scoffed. "You locked yourself in the Realm of Darkness. Of course we would be worried about you guys."

"I suppose that makes sense." Lucille scratched her cheek nervously. "I was worried about your arm through-if you remained in there while it was reacting so strongly to the darkness within that realm..."

"I can't argue with that. I suppose I really was a liability." Zen sighed. "Even so, you should have more faith in me. I didn't suppress this thing for the past ten years for it to take advantage of me."

"I know...I'm sorry. I guess I was a pretty bad friend." Lucille smiled sadly.

"That's not it at all." Zen shook his head. "You weren't entirely wrong. It was harder than I thought to keep this arm under control while in the Realm of Darkness. I just don't like the idea of you being by yourself alone in that place-without either myself or Oswald near you."

"Oh..." Lucille faintly blushed.

"I suppose you wouldn't be the island girl that I know if you were actually using your brain and thought about that, though," Zen then teased.

Lucille's blush went away immediately as she tried to punch him, but Zen moved away easily. "You jerk! Even after everything that happened you still make fun of me!"

Oswald sighed at the sight. "It's so nice to see the gang reunited again."

"You must be her friends that she told us about. I'm Quartz. Very nice to meet you!" Quartz beamed.

"She told you about us, huh? Speaking of which, have we met before? I can't help but feel like I know that face."

"Oh, you can see my face, too?" Quartz blinked and pointed to himself.

"Of course I can. Why do you say that?"

"Oh...heh heh. It's just...usually no one can see my face-not even I can see it. So it's comforting to know that at least I don't look like a monster, according to you and Lucille anyway." Quartz smiled sadly.

Oswald tilted his head. "That's a weird quirk for a Nobody."

"Tell me about it," Quartz sighed.

Zen looked at Quartz with an odd look.

"What's wrong?" Lucille decided to ask about it.

"It's nothing..." Zen shook his head. 'Strange. I feel like I should know that Nobody in the white coat. But that's silly, I've never met him before until now...right?'

"That reminds me-who are the strays you've adopted?" Moira teased, pointing to Quartz and Zero.

"Oh, that's right. You guys haven't met them properly yet. The Nobody in the white coat is Quartz, and this is Zero."

"Zero, huh? Alright then." Zen got up and approached the hooded boy. "Start explaining. You know who that red-haired pyromaniac is, don't you?"

"...He's a member of Organization XIII. He's their double-agent."

"So that's a member of this Organization we heard about."

"You know about them already?" Lucille asked.

"Moira filled us in when we were trying to find ya," Oswald explained.

"I take it you've been told about them too, huh? Annoying bunch, aren't they? Even Master Matoya has a hard time keeping an eye-er-well, her mind's eye on them and keeping one step ahead of their plans."

"Oh, that's right, Master Matoya is a seer, isn't she?" Florian recalled.

"One of the very best," Moira declared, winking. "She's the one who helped us find you after you suddenly popped out of the Realm of Darkness and then went missing again. It makes sense why now. This world has been cut off from both realms, so it's literally in its own bubble-just like Memoria."

"So because this place has been so heavily warded, it makes sensing hard even for Master Matoya?"

"Just be glad Master Matoya is such a skilled seer. If it was anyone lower-we would have never tracked ya."

"But then how did you get inside this place if you couldn't enter it normally?" Quartz asked confused.

"Heh heh, we took a secret backdoor. There's always a backdoor to every world. This one is no different. It involved a little trip into the Realm of Dreams and entering that way, but it still worked out," Moira explained.

"The Realm of Dreams?"

"The realm of the sleeping worlds, the realm between light and dark-take your pick. There's all kinds of names for that realm, but they all have the same meaning. Essentially, though-it's middle ground, so anyone could walk through it-even scumbags like the Organization. On the plus side, though, it allows us to enter worlds that would otherwise be impossible to enter normally," Moira added.

"What was it like going through it?" Lucille asked Oswald and Zen.

"Oddly colourful." Oswald simply stated.

"It was like going through the Realm of Darkness without the darkness and it was far less disturbing, but it did have an ocean of worlds that were sleeping even though their hearts should have returned," Zen explained.

"It does happen sometimes. Master Matoya is the custodian of the memories of every world, after all. I guess some worlds need a little extra push before they awaken completely."

"Wait, does that mean that Destiny Islands..."

"If you're asking if Destiny Islands is one of those sleeping worlds, don't worry-last I checked, that world is back to normal."

"You visited it? Why would you do that?" Lucille asked curiously.

"You being the sentimental girl-I knew you would be concerned about your home. So I decided to take a peek around the world to see how it was doing since Destiny Islands' heart has been restored," Moira answered and tipped her hat a little to hide her face.

"That was so kind of you, Moira. Thank you for doing that. It does help to put my worries at ease," Lucille thanked the witch warmly.

"Don't get too used to the treatment." Moira huffed but her cheeks were slightly red from the heartfelt thanks she got.

"Who knew that you were such a softie." Oswald smirked.

"Oh, please," Moira scoffed. "Anyways, that said-I'm outta here." Moira waved care-freely as she turned.

"You're leaving?" Zen barked.

"The deal was to get you guys here so you could reunite with Lulu and keep her safe on my behalf. Besides, I'm an Observer, remember? Can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds-even this one has its own rules."

"Being an Observer must be tough..." Florian noted.

"You have no idea, kid. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fine. If you can get out of the Realm of Darkness, then you can certainly overcome this castle. I have faith in ya." Moira winked.

"I understand. Thank you for your help, though. Your timing couldn't have been any more perfect back there," Lucille thanked.

"Hate to admit it, but Lucille's right. We wouldn't have been able to find her without Moira's help. You could thank her a little, Zen," Oswald nudged.

"...T-thanks," Zen muttered.

"Oh geez, don't force yourself." Moira rolled her eyes. "Oh well, for Lulu it's no biggie. I'm the Magnificent Moira Delune, remember?"

"Right. Of course." Lucille shook her head with a soft smile.

"Welp, with that-I'm outta here. See ya, nerds." Moira waved to them before casting a portal and calling her Meow Wow to her side.

"Oh! Thank you too, Meow Wow!" Lucille thanked Moira's Dream Eater. Meow Wow mewed with happiness at the praise.

"You traitor." Moira shook her head. Meow Wow whimpered. "Oh well, I suppose better her than anyone else. Let's go then." Moira shrugged and then walked through the portal she made, with Meow Wow following.

Once the portal closed behind them, silence filled the room for a few seconds before Quartz broke it.

"She's kinda weird," Quartz noted.

"Well, you're a bit quirky yourself," Chi noted.

Quartz pouted. "That's so mean."

Florian gently patted Quartz's back in comfort.

"Still that just leaves 'Zero' over here. What's your connection to that guy that was spewing fire at Lucille?"

"I'm not a part of the Organization, if that's what you mean. I...failed to meet their expectations."

"Zero...there's something that's been bothering me." Lucille got up now that Florian had taken care of her burn injuries, although some parts of her skin were still a little red. Thankfully, there wouldn't be any scars and her skin would go back to its usual skin-tone in time. Florian's healing magic was truly amazing. "Why did Axel keep calling you a 'thing' or 'it'?" Lucille asked.

"..." Zero remained silent.

"She asked you a question. Or is there something you don't want us to find out about you? Like, you're secretly some double agent yourself?" Zen narrowed his eyes.

"Zen!" Lucille was horrified.

"Zen's got a point-unless he tells us what's going on in this place, we can't afford to be careless. Castle Oblivion is called that for a reason. If we make one wrong move here, we'll become prisoners of this castle's illusions forever," Oswald warned.

"I'm sorry. I can't. I will say this, though. I have no intentions of betraying anyone's trust, as doubtful as that claim might sound."

Zen crossed his arms. "Just know I'm keeping my eye on you. She and Florian might trust you, but I'm not so easy to win over."

Zero sighed. "Very well-I can live with that. I'm used to this kind of treatment."

Zen blinked. "What do you mean?"

Zero didn't answer and just walked past him.

"I think you hit a nerve there," Oswald hinted in whisper.

 _"We really need to work on your people skills,"_ Gula sighed.

"Hey, what did I do?!" Zen cried out in annoyance.

"Do you think he took that a little too hard?" Quartz whispered to Chi.

"I honestly can't tell with that hood up." Chi shook her head.

Lucille walked over to where Zero had gone. "I'm sorry about Zen. He's a good person really-he's just prickly around strangers. I would have thought he'd gotten better by now."

Zero shook his head. "He's not wrong, though. He's right to not trust me instantly, even though I'm aiding you all to reach Namine. I...still have a connection to that Organization even though they threw me away."

"But why would they do that?"

Zero became quiet again. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you. You'll hate me if you knew just what I am exactly."

"Oh c'mon, Nobody or not, you're still Zero. You even stood up to Axel to protect me and Florian."

Zero turned his head towards Lucille. "That's...what friends do, right?"

"Yup!" Lucille beamed. "If you can understand that then you're more human then you think. Don't let Axel or anyone else tell you otherwise."

"...I need to go check something ahead. Could you guys stay here until I come back?" Zero asked.

"Huh? Uh, sure. What's wrong, though? Did you sense something wrong?" Lucille asked.

"I'm worried about the absence of Marluxia. I could have sworn we would have been ambushed by him rather than Axel. I'll be faster investigating it myself. I won't be gone long," Zero told her.

"Okay then, Zero. We'll see you in a minute." Lucille nodded. "I suppose we could use this moment to catch our breath after that encounter with pyro-head."

Zero let out a tiny voice that almost sounded like a laugh from Lucille's joke. It took Zero by surprise and he coughed to compose himself. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Lucille smiled. "That's called a laugh. It's something we do when we find something that makes us so happy that we have to express it," she explained.

"Huh...I see." Zero then thought to himself, _'I'm just a fake to the real thing, though. I'm not capable of laughing...am I?'_ He shook the thoughts from his head and turned around to face the door.

"Lucille...before I go, can I ask you something?" Zero questioned.

"Go ahead." Lucille placed her hands over her head care-freely.

"If I told you that I would eventually disappear-how would you feel?"

That took Lucille by surprise. "Huh?! What kind of question is that?"

"Please answer, how would feel if you knew I would eventually..."

"I'd be sad, of course. We would all be sad. I imagine even Namine would miss you-and I don't even know her!"

"Namine said the same thing. If things were different...perhaps..."

"...?"

Zero shook his head. "I should go. I'll be back as soon as possible. If Marluxia or Axel show up, use the memory cards to move into a memory world. Be wary, though-although these memory worlds were taken from your memory, they only record the world itself, not the events that followed. So if there's something or someone with a powerful connection to that world you enter, you could end up viewing someone else's memories besides your own." Zero handed over the pack of memory cards that he created from Lucille's memories.

"Someone else's memory? That's a little..."

"This place is called Castle Oblivion for a reason. Don't stray from the truth that you know in your heart. Don't get lost in those memories. If you do...you'll end up lost to oblivion forever," Zero warned.

"I-I understand. I'm sure it'll be okay. You'll be back to make sure we stay on the right path." Lucille nodded slowly.

"I know. I'm just warning you in case the worst happens and you have to escape before I come back. Don't worry, I've lived in this castle since my birth. I'll know how to find you," Zero added.

Lucille blinked. "What do you mean you were born here?"

Zero didn't answer. He simply turned around and ran to the door, activating it with a card that he kept on him despite giving the rest of the pack to Lucille.

"Lucille, is everything alright?" Florian asked Lucille.

"Hey, where did he run off too?" Zen asked I thought he was going to help us get around this crazy place."

Lucille ran back to the others and informed them of what Zero told her.

"So he went to scout ahead, huh?" Oswald summarized.

"Yeah, he left the rest of the memory cards with me in case we had to use them before he comes back."

"I still don't trust that guy. How did you meet him? And better yet, why are you even in this castle in the first place?" Zen questioned.

"I ain't gonna lie, I'm with Zen on this. How did you guys end up in this world? It's amazing enough that you escaped the Realm of Darkness unscathed."

 _"Since we've got time to kill while we wait, could you tell us what happened to you after you were closed off in the Realm of Darkness?"_ Gula asked.

"Sure, I owe you guys that much," Lucille agreed and started to explain the whole story up to this point.

* * *

Zero looked around the next floor, scanning the room intently for any signs of danger. While he was looking around for danger, his body went through another coughing seizure, making him fall to the ground. He barely kept himself from collapsing to the floor completely.

He even noticed that there were specks of blood painting the marble floor below him. It must have been his coughing that brought it up.

"It's getting worse. My body's..." Zero grimaced through the pain, but he endured it. "I can't disappear just yet. I've still got to get the others to Namine on the thirteenth floor...because...that's what my original whom I was created from would have wanted."

Zero looked up to the ceiling. "Sora...Namine...what would you two have done in my place? Should I have told Lucille the truth...? Failed replica or not...I just want to be helpful to someone..."

 **"Then how about helping me, Zero? You were always meant to be a puppet that can only serve its master. Why not fulfill that role now and serve me? The true lord of this castle."** Zero was taken aback by the familiar voice. He sharply turned around and prepared himself for an attack.

"Marlu-!" Zero gasped before everything suddenly went dark. He screamed in terrible pain as if both his artificial heart and mind were being torn in two violently.

 _'I...failed...I'm so...sorry...Na...mi...ne...'_

* * *

Alright, that's this one done! =D I was going to add a bit more in this chapter, but I think this one had gone on long enough, so I'll add it to Episode 4. =3

I hope you guys are enjoying the fan fic so far and enjoyed this latest chapter. Hopefully, I'll be able to get Episode 4 done soonish. XD

With that said, onwards to Review Corner!

 **~:Review Corner:~**

KnightLawn: Thank you for your review! I'm glad you are enjoying the fan fic. =3

Mysterygirl145: Thank you for your review! Zen and Oswald were left behind on the other side the door along with Sora, Donald and Goofy. =3 But as you can see in this chapter, that separation was short-term. XD

I have plans for Zero but trying to keep the mystery behind him is pretty difficult without giving too much away in the first chapters. XD

That's one of the reasons why this episode took longer than I expected because I had to keep rewriting it to prevent giving away Zero's secret too early. XD

But remember that 'failed replica' is an important clue. He does have a connection to Xion, though, but that will be answered in a secret episode that I'll do for Zero once his secret is revealed.. =3 I'm glad you like Zero, though. Like I said, I have plans for him this arc. =3

Also, I felt Marluxia would find a way to cheat death somehow-even if its just as a living memory. Besides, I feel like since Marluxia was the main villain in Chain of Memories, he would be the ideal enemy for our dear group, too. He'll pose an actual danger in the next chapter, though. You'll see why when the next chapter comes out. =3

And about the possibility of a memory of Riku Replica appearing...Hmmmmm... ;3

Visitor: Thank you for the review! I can understand where you're coming from. Like I said, you are right that Quest for Camelot would be an ideal fit. Problem is that it's not a Disney-owned property. It belongs to Warner Bros. XD

And I decided to stay strictly to films that belong to Disney to stay true to the Kingdom Hearts series' roots. If any original worlds are added, they will most likely be worlds that I created. =3 As for the cure for Zen's arm, that will be revealed in due time in KH2, but that's my secret for now. =D

Gry21: Thank you for your review! Please do look forward to it and I hope you continue to enjoy the fan fic. When we get to the final battle in Castle Oblivion, I'll find some way to include Ava and Gula. Perhaps Lucille and Zen might acquire a new power with the help of Namine? =3

And your idea with Xaldin is something I had actually thought about implementing. I did always think that even though Dilian's Nobody Xaldin was a jerk, I thought Dilian himself was actually not that bad of a person. So I want to do something to give him some kind of redemption. This is probably something I'll have to give some thought on how to add it when we get to KH2 arc. XD

Especially with what happens in Dream Drop Distance-all the ideas I could do with Aster's interactions with them. I wonder what they would say now that their Prince is all grown up now? =3

Ctran: Thank you for the review! You could say that. Xemnas is 'you know who's' Nobody after all. =3

Zero's name has a clue along with the fact he's a 'failed replica'. As to what he is exactly, I have a secret episode about him planned in the works that will explain a lot of his origins, but that won't be added until Zero's secret is revealed.

As you saw in this chapter, Zen and Oswald were able to reunite with Lucille and the others thanks to Moira's connections to the Dream Realm (or Realm of the Sleeping Worlds-whatever term we're using. XD). As for what became of Invi, Aced and Ira, you might get a teaser of who their successors are in the Epilogue. =3

Chirithy564: Thank you for the review! lol Marluxia just can't stay dead. X3 I'm glad you are enjoying the new characters added so far. Quartz will eventually have a bigger role in Dream Drop Distance, but for now he won't be a major influence in Fragments of Starlight, but he will in due time when we move into KH2 and Dream Drop Distance. =3

Zero, however, has a lot of influence in this arc. While I won't give away too much, as I mentioned to the others, his name and that fact that he's a 'failed replica' holds clues as to the secret behind him. What was the secret that Zero didn't want anyone to know? Hmmm... =3 So many questions, so little time. XD

Readingchameleon: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you are enjoying the fan fic so far! =D

Heart: Thank you for the review! Hmmmm...I could probably add Cecil or Kain in Olympus Coliseum, maybe even both? =3 Corneila will be a world Lucille and her friends will probably visit, since the Warrior of Light's world will probably have been restored from the end of KH1, and I already have a plot in mind for that world that connects nicely to FF1's beginning. =3

As for Jecht, I think that could work somehow. I mean, they added Auron in KH2, sooo. XD

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

And that's all for review corner. =3 I hope you are looking forward to episode 4. Until then, happy reading, folks!

Moogle Empress, out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	4. Episode 4: The White Witch

**Episode 4: The White Witch**

* * *

Lucille had long since finished explaining the whole story to Zen and Oswald and they were now waiting for Zero to return from scouting ahead of them.

"I hope Zero's okay. He's been gone for a long while." Quartz began to worry.

"Why do I get the horrible feeling that something bad is going to happen?" Zen spoke his concerns aloud.

 _"You always feel like something bad is going to happen,"_ Gula teased.

"I'm serious, Gula!"

"I...still can't forget what Axel said earlier about Zero. Why did he call Zero a 'puppet'?"

"Oh yeah, he did say that, didn't he? He's gotta know something about Zero that we don't," Lucille recalled.

"A puppet? So you mean he's not a real person?" Oswald asked.

"We don't know. I honestly don't understand anything about this castle. It's all messed up, but I get the feeling Zero isn't a normal person like Zen or Lucille." Florian shook his head.

"It sounds like he's connected to this castle in some way. He said that he was 'born' here, after all," Lucille recalled.

"Hey, are you sure we can trust this Zero? What if he really is working along with the Organization and this whole thing was just a ruse for you to drop your guard?" Zen questioned.

"Honestly, Zen! First Riku and now Zero?" Lucille sighed loudly.

"Can you really blame me? Riku doesn't exactly have a clean record," Zen scoffed.

Lucille shook her head. "I can't argue with that, but still..."

Quartz spoke up. "Um..." Both Lucille and Zen turned their heads to look at him. "I know this isn't really my place to say anything, but I believe that Zero is truly trying to help us. I don't get the feeling that he's using us. He doesn't have the same kind of darkness that I felt from those people in the black coats. Especially the darkness inside their leader-he scares me more than any of the ones we've met in this castle."

"You mean Axel and Marluxia," Florian confirmed. "I wonder where that Marluxia went...we haven't seen him since we first arrived," he then wondered.

They heard the doors open from nearby. To their horror, it was Axel yet again.

"You know...You kids are **really** starting to make me angry." Axel forced a smile on his face, but his eyes were twitching in annoyance.

"You again?!" Lucille cried out.

"Did you really think I'd give up the chase that easily? Hey, what happened to your burns from our fight earlier?" Axel noted.

"None of your business! Why do you want her so much?" Zen demanded.

"Actually, this is my fault." Quartz raised his hand. "He originally came to capture me, but now he wants to capture both of us."

"He's after you too?" Oswald frowned and pondered for any possible reasons why that was the case.

"Look, I don't know either. I just follow orders. Stop trying to get answers out of me." Axel sighed loudly and placed his hands on his hips.

"It sounds like your leader doesn't trust you with the more delicate details," Oswald noted.

Axel shrugged. "Or maybe I didn't bother to ever ask. I have an idea about the little weirdo in the white coat, but Sora's sister is beyond me."

"You're mean! Why Zero seems to like you I'll never know," Quartz huffed.

"Actually, can I ask you something? What do you know about Zero? You two seem to know each other pretty well," Lucille asked.

"Why should I tell you about that? You're reading into this too deep, kid. We're not frie-" Axel was about to retort until he noticed a familiar robed figure come out from the door beyond them.

"Zero! You're back! We were beginning to worry about-" Lucille beamed at the arrival of Zero, however Quartz and Florian both seemed to come across to the same conclusion that something was wrong.

"Wait, Lucille!" Quartz gripped onto Lucille's arm.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Lucille...something's wrong with Zero...his...whole aura has shifted," Florian noted.

"His aura has shifted? What do you mean?" Lucille looked puzzled.

With a flash of quick movements, Zero's hand summoned forth a familiar scythe into his hands and unleashed a powerful wave of energy towards them.

"Look out!" Quartz ran in front and used his powers to create a crystal shield that nullified the blow.

"Quartz!" Lucille gasped and went over to check on him.

Quartz quickly reassured, "Don't worry, I'm okay. It's a barrier that nullifies magic and physical attacks."

Axel whistled. "Impressive." He then stared at 'Zero'.

"I knew he couldn't be trusted!" Zen accused

"Zero, what are you doing?! We're your friends, remember?" Chi tried to reach out, but there was no response.

"Zero...It's not true, is it? You weren't really just using us, right?" Lucille felt hurt by the thought of being betrayed.

"So, you've actually done it. You decided to brainwash the kid now, Marluxia?" Axel gritted his teeth.

"Marluxia?!" Everyone except Oswald cried out.

"Who's Marluxia again?" Oswald was the odd one out to ask that question.

"That's the psychopathic living memory of the Nobody Lady Lucille told you about," Chi reminded.

"Aw, you ruined the drama, Axel. And here I thought I could leave some emotional scars on them before I take their lives. Also-brainwashing is such a harsh word. I prefer the phrase 'correcting his memory'." Marluxia appeared before them beside Zero, who stood almost as still as a statue.

"What's going on? Why is Zero working with Marluxia?" Lucille shook her head in disbelief at what she was seeing.

"You used Vexen's fail-safe protocol on Zero, didn't you? To chain up his free will."

"It turned out quite fortunate that Vexen kept that protocol within Zero. I wouldn't have been able make Zero my puppet otherwise if he had some semblance of free will."

Axel's fists clenched tightly. "It's bad enough that Vexen made his life a mockery. Why torture him further than what you, Vexen and Larxene already did that to him. Even as a memory, you're just as sadistic as you were before."

"I'm surprised at you, Axel. Not long ago, you were calling Zero a 'thing'. Why the sudden change? Could it be that you actually feel... _guilt?_ "

Axel didn't say anything, but glared.

"I don't know what's going on," Lucille started. "But you let go of Zero right now! He's not a puppet for you to control!"

"Oh, that's where you are wrong. Did you really think this boy was a Nobody like your friend there? He's just a simple doll with an artificial heart that was too weak for the body to handle. Now, he doesn't even have the heart to hear you out. But at least now he's obedient like a good puppet should be."

"Alright, explain, pal, what's this fail safe protocol you two keep talkin' about?" Oswald demanded from Axel.

"...Basically, it chains up their memory and locks it away. It was suppose to _only_ be used if our robed friend here went rogue and needed to be quickly subdued, but this Memory Marluxia abused it for his own plans. In other words, Zero doesn't remember any of us now. He's no different than a mindless doll now."

"What?! What do you mean he forgot us?" Quartz panicked.

"Exactly what I said. All of his memories prior to today were fabrications of someone else's memories created as part of an elaborate plan by the Organization. I'd say the only genuine memories he had was the ones with that girl Namine and you lot. However, with that protocol now activated, even those memories have been sealed up."

"That's...so cruel!" Florian shook his head.

"Implanting memories? Fabrications of the mind? Just what the hell were you people doing to him?!" Zen felt this sounded disturbingly similar to what Xehanort did not only to him, but Ion and countless other innocents who were forced into his experiments back in Radiant Garden. It also made him feel sick at the thought of just what Zero must have gone through here.

"You should thank me. His heart shackled him to the false memories implanted in there, and they were holding him back from showing his true potential. I simply freed him from those chains."

"I don't believe for a second that Zero can't overcome whatever it is you did to him. Memories aren't something you can just lock away and throw away the key, he's stronger than that!" Lucille retorted.

"Oh, really? Let's see if he remembers—Zero, attack them," Marluxia gave a cruel smirk and ordered Zero, who was carrying a copied version of Marluxia's scythe.

"Understood, preparing for battle," Zero obeyed and started to focus energy into the weapon. There wasn't even a hint of emotion now.

"Don't actually listen to the creep!" Oswald shouted.

"He doesn't have an ounce of free will now, rabbit. He doesn't really have a choice," Axel retorted.

"Don't just stand there, get ready to defend yourselves. He's using his full power this time!" Axel warned the younger group.

 _"He's not lying. I can tell by the increased power Zero is showing that he must have been holding back his real strength before,"_ Ava rang in Lucille's head.

 _'But-! I don't want to hurt him, Ava!'_ Lucille shook her head.

 _"You don't have to defeat him, but we need to hold him off long enough so we can escape,"_ Ava told her.

Lucille nodded. "Right." Lucille summoned both the Lux Arma and Keyblade into her hands.

"Whoa whoa, reality check here, are we really going to fight him? I thought you of all people would be against that," Zen told Lucille.

Lucille shook her head. "We're not trying to win. We just need to be able to open that door to another memory world. I have the memory cards that Zero gave to me before he left. I really don't want to fight Zero either," Lucille explained.

"Usually I wouldn't be okay with letting my targets go, but I don't want you to end up dead either. That would look terrible on my track record and earn me a one way ticket to becoming a Dusk," Axel made a light joke. "I'll buy you the time you need to escape. If you want to find a way to help Zero, you're better off finding the old lab for answers. That's where Zero was 'born'. His late creator should still have all Zero's old records and data stored there," Axel told them.

"Where is this old lab?" Oswald pressed.

"On the eleventh floor. Think you can climb all those floors by yourself?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Lucille gave a confident look.

"Right, I swear you two really _are_ alike. I guess it's true what they say about twins after all."

"What's that meant to mean?" Lucille huffed.

They didn't have time to get an answer since Zero was attacking first, charging in to deal a closed-ranged attack to the group, but Zen managed to halt the attack by summoning his heartless claw arm to hold the scythe. He was struggling against Zero's strength.

Axel really wasn't kidding, Zero was much stronger than he looked when Zen first saw him. Was it because he was no longer held back by his memories?

Zero pulled the scythe away and jumped into the air, using the weapon to unleash crescent waves at them.

The group jumped out of the way of each of the attacks, dancing around the room to avoid every attack Zero tried to launch at them. He must have copied Marluxia's entire arsenal of attacks.

Zero moved back to Marluxia's side when he got the order to return.

"So, still think Zero has the willpower to recall those memories? Those memories are buried for good. No amount of friendship speeches are going to bring them back," Marluxia teased.

"Zero...have you really forgotten about us? About your friend Namine? We're your friends, remember?" Lucille called out to Zero again.

"Don't just stand there! Get moving to the next floor!" Axel called out to them. Marluxia joined in the fray and attacked Axel, who blocked the attack himself before throwing an flamed chakram at him, causing Marluxia to jump back to dodge out of the attack as the chakram swung back towards Axel, who caught it with his free hand.

"None of you are going anywhere. Didn't I say before that I would be ready? Zero, make sure none of them leave the room. I'll take care of this infuriating spy."

"Understood," Zero complied and stood between the group and the door leading to the next floor.

"This is not good. We might actually have to try and attack him to get to the door after all." Zen gritted his teeth.

"But we don't want to hurt Zero! It's not his fault!" Florian shook his head.

"But...he looks so serious...I don't know if we can convince him." Quartz shook his head.

"By the way, that is an interesting arm you have. I wonder where you got it. Tell me, are you someone's puppet too?" Marluxia smiled coldly at the greenette.

Zen's eyes flashed dangerously, and even his claw sparked up with life.

 _"Zen, don't let him get to you. He's just trying to make you lash out,"_ Gula's comforting words rang through Zen.

Zen sighed inwardly. "Let me tell you one thing-I'm no one's puppet. We're not toys for people like you to play around with our hearts as you please!"

"How ironic that we have similar views but on different sides of the battlefield," Marluxia noted.

"I'm nothing like you!"

"Oh? But I too didn't want to be used as a pawn by the same man we call our Superior in the Organization. The reason why I tried to rebel was to stop that man's true plans from coming to fruition. Of course, that girl's dear brother along with the white witch ruined that plan quickly."

"The White Witch?" Quartz repeated.

"Sora was the one who defeated you? Well, there's some good news for once," Lucille roasted.

"Ah, but by destroying only my Nobody, I had gained immortality by this castle's seraphic artes itself. Clearly this castle chose me to be its Master for that reason."

"More like it was just a really bad side effect that conveniently worked in your favor," Florian corrected.

"Hey, flower boy! Keep your attention on me-I'm your attacker, remember?" Axel chided.

"Hmph," Marluxia simply scoffed and charged into battle with Axel once again. As the two Nobodies clashed with each other, Lucille and the others faced Zero once again.

"Zero...We don't want to fight you. Can't you recognize us? We fought together against that huge Heartless in that memory world of Destiny Islands, remember? We even made sandcastles together!" Quartz tried to jog any memory that could have remained inside Zero even after Marluxia gave him that 'protocol' that they kept hearing about.

"Actually you made the sandcastles. Zero just watched you," Chi corrected.

"I'm trying to jog **any** memory inside Zero, Chi!" Quartz flailed his arms at the Chirithy.

"...Sandcastles?" Zen glanced at Lucille with an raised eyebrow.

"It's a long story." Lucille laughed sheepishly.

They didn't have time to relax their stance as Zero was about to attack again, but Zero soon fell to the ground, dropping the replicated scythe to the floor as he clutched a hand to where his heart would be.

"What's wrong with him?" Zen asked in confusion.

"Didn't you say that Zero seemed to be in pain whenever he tried to use his powers?" Oswald recalled something Lucille explained to them earlier while they were waiting.

"Yeah," Florian confirmed.

"...I think I understand now why he was holding back before. Using his full power against us means he's putting more strain on his body. There's only so much stress a heart or body can take before it breaks down," Oswald figured out.

"He must have been aware of that before, but now that Marluxia has sealed away his entire memory..." Chi seemed to have put the pieces together as well.

"This sounds...oddly familiar." Lucille couldn't help but think back to the days when she was still bed-ridden in her bedroom. Her mother said something very similar to her. As a child, she never understood why, but now...she understood her mother's reasoning much better now. Did that mean Zero was just how she used to be as a child? He had a frail body?

"...R-Run..." Zero's words barely came out as a whisper and sounded like he had to force them out.

"Zero?" Lucille became hopeful once more. Did Zero finally recognize them?!

"You...need to run! I don't know why...but I don't want to hurt you..."

"You don't remember who we are?" Quartz felt hurt by this.

"I remember your faces...but not the names," Zero admitted.

"...Even though the memories are gone, the heart remembers..." Zen's eyes widened in realization at the similarity of this situation to what happened to his best friend.

"I don't want to do this...but I can't disobey...that's why you have to run! Before it's too late!" Zero told them.

"But Zero, We can't leave you here with that awful man!" Lucille shook her head.

"How...do you know my name?" Zero asked.

"You might not believe this, but you've actually met these guys already. Lucille told us why you originally came to save them. It was the request of a girl named Namine," Zen reminded.

"Na..mi...ne? I...know her! I-Ahhh!" Zero's mind and heart were in complete disharmony with each other. His heart clearly knew these people and especially this girl called Namine. He knew that she had a special place in his heart. But his mind-currently under the protocol's demand to obey Marluxia-was trying to pull back control from whatever was preventing Zero from completing his order.

 _"Lucille, we've got to go! We might not have another chance to open the door,"_ Ava told Lucille through their connection.

"But..."

 _"Don't let Zero's efforts go to waste. He's trying to help us by not stopping us,"_ Ava reasoned.

"..." It pained Lucille but she knew Ava was right. There was nothing they could do...not right now anyway.

"Zero...we'll find a way to save you from Marluxia's control. I promise!" Lucille promised to him before she followed the others by running to the door and picking out a memory card from the pack that Zero handed to her before Marluxia caught him.

"What are you doing?! Stop them!" Marluxia barked orders at Zero.

"Zero! Don't listen to him! Do you want innocent blood on your hands?!" Axel countered.

"No...I-!" Zero honestly answered, but he felt the searing pain return, causing him to writhe in pain, curling into a fetal position while clutching his head with his hands as if trying to block out some kind of sound.

The memory card in Lucille's hand glowed and the door opened to reveal the path that would take them to that memory world. She quickly looked back and saw Zero in pain.

She almost instinctively went back to help Zero, but Zen stopped her.

"I know you want to help him, but we can't help him like this. We need to regroup."

Lucille clenched her fist. With a heavy heart, Lucille passed through the door with the others into the new memory world that awaits them. The doors sealed shut behind them. Zero felt relieved at their departure.

 _'I'm glad...at least they're safe for now. If you can hear me, Guardian of Castle Oblivion...keep them safe from Marluxia...and from...myself...'_ Zero thought in his mind before he passed out from pain.

Marluxia pulled back from his fight with Axel and picked up the unconscious body of Zero. "Tch...so those memories the girl talked about were lingering in his heart after all. I might have to possess the body myself if I can't remove those memories."

"I don't think so!" Axel charged in, but Marluxia acted quickly and dodged Axel's attack.

"Why do you care so much for a mere puppet? He's just a doll. There's nothing real about him. Not his memories, not his body-not even his heart is real. Don't tell me it's because of Sora. Or perhaps-is it Roxas that you see in Zero?" Marluxia mocked.

"...!" Axel didn't say anything, but his expression told Marluxia everything he wanted to know.

"So that's why...how interesting...perhaps Nobodies aren't so empty after all. You should really think about who is the real enemy here."

"You, of course! You're meant to be dead! And you've done enough to that kid. If you push him too far, his heart will shatter and you won't even have a toy to play with anymore afterwards," Axel shouted back.

"A doll like him can always be repaired. He just needs a new heart to replace his flawed one. That can be remedied shortly," Marluxia finished cryptically before disappearing along with Zero in tow.

Axel sighed and placed a hand over his face. "I really hate these kind of jobs...how did it get so complicated?"

Unbeknownst to the red spiky-haired Nobody, someone else was watching who saw the events unfold, but was unable to do anything without revealing themselves and putting ten years of effort into protecting this place in jeopardy.

They clenched their fists, though, at the injustice that they had just witnessed. "On my honour as the guardian of this world, I'll right the wrong that I've unknowingly allowed to flourish. I owe that much to Zero-and to Namine and Sora. "

* * *

Lucille and her friends found themselves in a familiar world that all of them save for Quartz had visited.

"We're in Traverse Town!" Chi verified.

"So this is what a memory world looks like...It looks so real. If I didn't know any better, I'd say we somehow found ourselves back in the actual world," Zen commented.

"And Zero was able to replicate this from your memory, Lucille?" Oswald turned to the brunette to confirm.

Lucille nodded. "He said in order to climb the castle, we needed enough of them to reach the thirteenth floor. Originally, Zero was going to show us a quicker way to the final floor but..."

"But we've lost our guide-so now we'll have to climb the floors one at a time, huh? Man, that's such a pain," Zen grumbled. Just then, Zen's body glowed lightly along with Lucille's. Like before on Destiny Islands, Lucille saw Ava had her physical form again. This time, Gula appeared with her.

"What the?!" Oswald jumped in shock.

"Where the hell did you come out from?!" Zen was also taken by surprise by Gula's sudden appearance.

"This is...incredible! So the seraphic artes not only can bring memories to life through the illusionary artes, it can also give people like myself and Ava a temporary physical form while within the memory world itself," Gula theorized.

"So in other words...you guys are like Marluxia? A living memory?" Quartz summarized.

Gula nodded. "Essentially yes, but unlike him, it seems we can only take form within these worlds because it has something to do with our other halves. In other words-you guys."

"I'm confused. All this talk about illusionary artes and living memories makes my head all fuzzy." Quartz felt lost.

"So you're saying because we share the same heart , you share our existence as well, so the castle allowed you to take physical form within the memory worlds. How come you can't do that in the castle itself? We're basically in the same place aren't we?"

"That's where things get confusing. I think it has something to do with presence as well. Ava and I have never been here, so I guess it doesn't consider us ever existing within Castle Oblivion. But we were with you the whole time when you traveled to these worlds. It probably made an exception for us because of that."

"Even if Marluxia can't follow us here, Zero can." Ava reminded. "And that worries me."

"Zero..."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I hope that guy is okay too. Like him or not, he did help us back there," Oswald added.

"You mean Axel? He just didn't want us dying to Marluxia before he can cart us back to his overlord," Lucille huffed.

"Hmm...I'm not so sure. That might have been true before but...he seemed really angry at Marluxia with what he did to Zero," Florian noted.

"Now that I think about it, didn't he say that the lab where Zero was 'born' was on the eleventh floor? I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe we should take him up on that advice. I want to help Zero. I don't know how we can help, but maybe we can learn more about Zero, which could give us a clue as to how to give Zero his free will back," Lucille suggested.

"That's a good idea and all, but his memories were sealed and locked up as part of that protocol. I'm not so sure if he'll be the same Zero we knew even if we remove that control Marluxia has over him," Gula reminded.

"Even if the memories disappear, the heart remembers-that was what Aster taught me," Zen spoke aloud.

"Oh, that's right! Aster lost his memories, but he managed to get them back! Even without them, his heart remembered you." Lucille understood what Zen was saying.

"I'm also saying that Marluxia might not have been telling us the whole truth," Zen added.

"I agree! I don't think for a second that Zero really forgot about us. If he truly didn't remember us, he wouldn't have hesitated and froze up like he did," Quartz added earnestly.

"We need to find out more about what this so called 'fail-safe protocol' really does. There might even be a way to reverse it-or at least remove Marluxia's control over him," Zen suggested.

"Well, this is a 360-turn. You thought Zero was a traitor before," Gula reminded.

"I did. But...I was wrong-even I can admit that. Zero's just like me, a victim of someone else's ambitions. When we don't meet their expectations, we're thrown away and left to suffer the consequences. It's hard to place doubt in someone who went through a similar situation as you."

"You speak from experience..." Quartz quietly added.

"Even you can pick that up, huh?" Zen asked the pale green-haired Nobody.

"How...can you be both observant yet so naive at the same time?" Gula questioned.

"Sounds like another air-head we know," Zen teased, glancing at Lucille.

Lucille just glared, but Zen got the clear message within it.

"But...I don't have any air in my head. How can I be air-headed?" Quartz tilted his head and questioned innocently. Quartz then noticed something in the corner of his eye. He saw a flash of white and could have sworn it was a person. "Hey, guys...I think I just saw someone just leave the area," Quartz informed the others.

"Someone else is here? Who else could it be?" Oswald asked.

"We should follow them. They could help us," Lucille suggested.

"You do realize this could be a trap, right?" Zen countered.

"Hmmm...No, I don't think it is. I didn't feel anything sinister or dark about that person," Quartz noted.

"Quartz has been accurate so far. I say that we trust him on this," Florian told Zen.

"If you say so. Don't tell me I didn't warn you if it does turn out to be a trap." Zen shrugged.

"Could you at least try to be open-minded?" Gula shook his head.

"Quartz, you saw where that person left, so we'll follow you," Lucille told Quartz.

Quartz nodded earnestly. "Yup, they went that way." Quartz went in front and guided the others in the direction of where he saw that mysterious person leave. He did wonder why they would show up in this memory world of Traverse Town, though, when they had seen no one else in this place so far.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the thirteenth floor, Diz was reading what looked like reports that were found by Riku and King Mickey, who were in black trench coats similar to what the Organization wears.

"Is this all you can find on the failed replica?"

"All the the information we could get on paper. We couldn't access the computer," Riku answered.

"It's gotta be protected by a password that the one in charge of that lab knew," Mickey suggested.

"That Nobody no longer exists. Even so, he should have left a clue behind. Any researcher would leave a hint to the password behind in case one forgets," Diz told them.

"Were the papers helpful, though?" Mickey asked.

Diz nodded. "These reports are very detailed-this 'Vexen' was very careful to write down every moment of the prototype's development. Even the fail-safe protocol is mentioned. It even has a proper name. However, I imagine he kept all his most sensitive and important records on that computer. We will need to access the computer somehow if we want to understand this replica program better."

"Then we'll have to find the password somehow. But what could that guy have used for a password?" Riku wondered.

Mickey noticed the absence of a certain girl. "Gosh, does anyone know where Namine went? She's not here."

"What?" Diz was surprised at this and looked behind him to see that Namine was indeed nowhere to be found. "What does that witch think she's doing? If Marluxia or that failed replica finds her...Riku, Mickey, find her immediately and bring her back here right away."

Riku simply nodded and proceeded to leave the room, with Mickey following behind him.

"One more thing, Riku," Diz spoke up again, getting Riku's attention. "If that prototype tries to interfere or endanger the lives of Lucille and her friends-as well as Namine's-you know what must be done."

"But shouldn't we try to help the fella? There might be a way to reverse what's been done to him," Mickey tried to reason.

"We have very little time for that. Even as we speak that mere memory of Marluxia is using that creature as his proxy since he cannot do anything in his current form. As flawed as the prototype is, it is still very dangerous-even more so now than before. We cannot afford to take any chances. After all, if these reports are correct...it might be best to end the replica's suffering before it's too late."

"Before it's too late? I don't think I like the sound of that." Mickey frowned.

"The prototype's heart was artificially made like all the replicas that came after it. However, they did something very risky with the prototype's heart, and now that replica is suffering the consequences of that scientist's arrogance. Believe me when I say this...it would be a mercy to let him die sooner rather than later."

* * *

Back in Traverse Town, Lucille and her friends were following Quartz's directions. It wasn't until they reached the Third District that Quartz came to a stop.

"I think this is where that person was trying to lead us," Quartz guessed.

"We're closed in, so if it is a trap we'll be at an disadvantage."

"Oh, would you stop already?" Lucille grumbled.

"Nothing wrong with being too careful," Zen countered.

"Hm? I think I see someone approaching!" Chi notified everyone as she saw a flash of a plain white dress appear in the corner of her eye.

The person walked towards them with a rather calm and gentle aura around them. Whoever it was, they were neither a threat nor an enemy.

When the person came close enough, they stopped and started to speak, "It's good to finally meet you, Lucille. As well as Florian, Zen, Oswald and Chi, of course. I...don't know who the other Nobody is or those two in the robes are."

"Oh, I'm Quartz!" Quartz introduced himself brightly.

"I am Master Ava and this my friend, Gula," Ava introduced themselves to Namine.

"You could say that we're the other half of the two you see here. Ava belongs to Lucille and I belong to Zen," Gula added.

The person who they could now identify as a girl softly smiled. "Oh, I see. It's nice to meet you as well, Quartz, Ava and Gula."

"Wait...could you be...Namine? The one Zero mentioned?" Lucille clicked.

The girl nodded. "Yes, that's my name. I am the one who is currently putting the pieces of Sora's memory back together exactly as they were before I meddled with them."

"...Sorry, I don't really understand." Lucille shook her head.

"Then Zero didn't tell you...maybe it was better you heard it from me. It was my fault after all." Namine sadly looked down. She then proceeded to confess the entire story of what happened to Sora during his time here at the castle. Once she was done, everyone looked horrified.

"Whoa, whoa, so Marluxia forced you to meddle with Sora's memory, so he could use Sora as some kind of puppet against the Organization whom he was rebelling against?" Oswald started.

Namine nodded.

"So you arranged and altered his memories to remove Kairi from the picture and replace her with you? In order for Sora to change and make him more submissive to you?"

Namine sadly nodded again. "I feel awful for what I did. The entire time...I felt sick and guilt-ridden. But...deep down...I didn't want to be alone in this castle anymore...so part of it was out of selfishness on my part too. Once I started what I had begun, though...I began to have second thoughts and regretted what I did."

"I know a Nobody like me has no right to ask forgiveness from you, Lucille. I toyed with the memories of someone very precious to you. Even in his memories, you were a vital core memory. For some reason, I couldn't alter any of his memories involving you-and secretly, I was glad that I couldn't."

Lucille felt conflicted. She should be angry at Namine for what she did to Sora, but, she thought of her childhood and how lonely she felt when she was stuck to her bed for a big chunk of her childhood.

"Well...I won't lie. I'm upset at what you did to Sora and his friends."

"Of course..." Namine nodded sadly. "I wanted to tell you above all people the truth. The reason you came to this castle was because you heard he was here and were worried for him, right? So it makes sense that you would be angry with me."

Lucille then added, "But...I forgive you."

Namine blinked. "What?"

"Normally anyone would be angry and upset at something like that. But...I understand how it feels to be isolated in a place you don't want to be. I was very sick when I was younger, so sick I couldn't move from my bed. I've been like that for years and the only people who would come and visit me were Sora and Riku. Kairi wasn't on the islands at that point yet. I still felt trapped within my room with nothing but books to pass the time. I was very lonely."

"Lucille..." Ava looked at her sadly.

"So I can understand how you and Zero feel...at least a little. Besides, I know Sora. Even if the memories you gave him were fake, the feelings he felt weren't lies. He's honest like that. Can't tell a lie even if he tried." Lucille then beamed.

"So basically, just like you. You two really are twins," Zen added teasingly, which resulted in Lucille attempting to smack him, but he dodged out of the way.

"Lucille...I really don't deserve your forgiveness, but thank you. Don't worry about Sora-he's fine along with Donald and Goofy. I'm currently putting their memories back to the way they were, but the process might take a little longer than I originally expected," Namine told them.

"At least they're not in danger like we thought when we entered this castle. That's reassuring." Florian nodded.

"I don't know how much longer that will be. Marluxia has Zero and used the 'Recall Protocol' on him. If Zero remains that way under Marluxia's control, he could indirectly do Marluxia's work for him. As you know, Marluxia is just a living memory created by the illusionary artes. Although, he can emerge on the twelve floors, he can't access the thirteenth floor in his current state."

"So that's his plan-to use Zero in order to exact his revenge. What a cowardly thing to do," Oswald scoffed.

"You called it the 'Recall Protocol'. That means you know a bit about it," Chi noted.

Namine nodded. "Only a little, but this is what Zero told me when he warned me about it. It removes all the memories the host has and locks them tightly away within their heart."

"We know that part, though." Quartz tilted his head.

"There's more to it," Namine added. "There's a flaw to the protocol. It has a limited range so the person who initiated the protocol would need to be within reach of the host. If you separate-for example, Marluxia and Zero on two different floors within the castle-Zero would be able to regain full control of his body so long as he stays away from Marluxia. But the memories would still be tightly locked away and would need outside help to restore them. "

"So that's what happened! I knew Zero hadn't truly forgotten us!" Quartz cheered.

"So, the protocol also acts as a leash on his free will huh?" Oswald noted.

"There is a way to unlock those memories from their slumber," Namine told them.

"So there is a way to help him? What can we do to help?" Lucille asked.

"I might be able to undo the protocol's effects since I have power over memories. However, we need to check Vexen's laboratory to know for sure. If I do anything reckless while Zero's heart is still in such a fragile state, I could...accidentally break it. I don't want that to happen," Namine told them.

"That Axel guy mentioned a Vexen too. So I guess we'll have to take that guy's advice after all. The password, though...that's gonna be a problem," Oswald pondered.

"Not even you could break into the computer?" Zen asked Oswald.

"I'm good with machines, but not that good, kid. A password isn't something anybody can crack on pure luck alone," Oswald sighed.

"There must be a hint or a clue to the password, though. All scientists and researchers would always leave a way to figure out the password," Gula noted.

"The only one who knows the password now is Zero. The other person who knew no longer exists." Namine shook her head.

"Well, that sucks. We'll just have to guess it." Oswald sighed, putting a hand through his rabbit ears.

"Guess it? It could be anything, rabbit! Where would we even start?" Zen argued.

"I guess we'll worry about that part once we find that lab." Lucille shrugged.

"Um...Miss Namine? I'm sorry if this sounds awful, but why are you here? Shouldn't you be on the thirteenth floor?" Florian asked.

"I know. Zero was meant to escort you all to the thirteenth floor, but now...I couldn't stand by and do nothing-not this time." Namine shook her head. "So I decided to sneak out and enter this memory world the same time that you activated it."

"You can do that?" Lucille blinked.

Namine smiled sadly. "I'm a witch with powers over memories, after all, especially the memories of Sora and everyone who is linked to him."

"A witch? You mean like Miss Moira?" Florian wondered.

"Moira?" Namine gave a quizzical look.

"Trust me on this, you don't want to know. She's a crazy and annoying witch with powers over Dream Eaters," Zen warned.

"She's not that bad. Maybe a little eccentric and nutty sometimes, but she's a good person when it comes down to it," Lucille lightly scolded.

"She did also help us get here, Zen. You can't run from that fact," Oswald reminded.

"That reminds me...Zen...there is something I can do for you, but I want you to choose for yourself," Namine told him.

Zen blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Your Heartless claw arm..." Namine started, glancing at the bandaged arm. "I know what happened to you. My powers allow me to be able to peer into other people's memories too, but I can't alter or arrange them like I could with Sora," Namine told him.

"Well, that's just creepy."

"I know. I'm sorry for doing so, but I couldn't help but notice how similar it was to Riku's problem, so I thought that perhaps I could offer the same choice to you."

"Riku's here?!" Lucille gasped.

Namine nodded. "He made his way to the top of this castle too. I believe Diz summoned him back here along with the mouse king to help with our...well...dilemma."

"Oh, joy..." Zen sarcastically noted.

"Mickey's here too? Well, thank the stars for that! I dunno how I would be able to face Minnie and tell her that her husband is still in the world of darkness. Although, I'm not sure if being here is any better considering the psycho ghost, the pyromaniac and now a literally memory-washed replica on the loose," Oswald summarized.

"Now that you put it that way, that does sound chaotic, doesn't it?" Gula nodded.

"Anyway, getting back on topic-what's this offer of yours?" Zen crossed his arms.

"Well...There might be a way for me to revert your arm back to the way it used to be. But...it would come with a heavy price," Namine warned.

Zen became alert at this. Namine then continued, "I could lock away the darkness within your heart along with the memories attached to it, tightly enough that it can't ever be undone. By doing so, your arm would be changed back to the way you remembered it before it was transformed."

"What's the catch?" Oswald frowned.

Namine closed her eyes. "It would mean sacrificing all the memories you have made ever since you received that claw. You see, locking away the memories connected to your claw also means sealing away all the memories you've made until now. You would revert back to how you used to be."

"So what you're saying is...I would have the mind of a five year old again and I would have to lose all my memories of the past ten years in order for my arm to return to normal?"

Namine nodded.

"But that's crazy. Zen wouldn't-" Lucille started to speak, but Zen stopped her.

"That's why I want Zen to choose. These are his memories. It's up to him now since only he can decide what's more important," Namine reasoned.

Everyone waited in bated breath of what Zen was going to answer.

"Okay, you want my answer, I'll give it to you." Zen started,

"Zen, are you sure about this?" Gula already knew Zen's answer but wanted to confirm with him.

Zen nodded. "I'm certain of it." He then took a few steps forward towards Namine. "I appreciate your offer, Namine, but I'm gonna have to decline."

Everyone sighed in relief at this.

"You had me worried for a minute there!" Oswald huffed.

"Did you guys **really** think I'm that desperate to be rid of this claw that I'd throw away all my memories that I made until now? Give me a little credit." Zen glared.

Lucille shook her head. "I knew you'd say no. I mean, how would we explain this to Aster and Ion?" Lucille teased. "But seriously...I believed you wouldn't accept the offer."

Namine smiled. "I already knew you'd say no too, but it wouldn't feel right if I didn't give you a choice first."

Zen looked at his bandaged arm. "I don't need any lock on my heart to keep this thing from hurting the people I care about. The reason I managed to control this dark power is because of the memories I have. Those memories made me into the person I am today. To throw them away now just to get rid of this thing would be disgracing the memory of every person I knew and met along the way. If Aster could live ten years with amnesia and still consider me his best friend, then I can live with this claw arm of mine."

"Besides, if Riku didn't accept the offer then there's no way I'm going to even if there was no drawback," Zen then bluntly answered.

"Please tell me that was a joke," Lucille groaned.

"You were doing so well too..." Gula face-palmed.

"What? There's no way I'd let that loser get the better of me by taking the easy way out! How would I face him?!"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. Are you two going to be bitter rivals forever?" Lucille shook her head in disbelief.

"The guy was formerly **possessed** by a heartless of all things, island girl. How could you easily trust someone who was corrupted once?" Zen argued.

"He's my best friend! I've known him since we were babies. I think I know him a lot better than you!"

The two then proceeded to get into a heated debate over it.

"Oh my...I think I started something by accident." Namine sweat-dropped.

"Um...Sorry about this, Miss Namine...You see...Riku and Zen seem to have this kind of unspoken rivalry between them. It must be because they both are fighting against the darkness in their hearts in their own way," Florian whispered.

"Hmmm, that actually makes sense when you think about it. Riku grew overconfident and the power of darkness overtook him, allowing that Heartless imposter to take control of him. Zen was forced into having that claw arm through an experiment by a researcher who was also drenched in darkness and tried to draw me out. It failed, though, thankfully." Gula nodded in agreement.

"I think there's another reason as well why they don't get along," Chi hinted by pointing to Lucille, who was busy bickering with Zen while Quartz was flailing around trying to calm them down. Oswald was also trying to help Quartz.

Namine gave a small nod. "That's true. They both hold Lucille in a special place in their hearts. I'm a little jealous." She smiled sadly.

"Well, what about Zero? He's your first friend, right? Zero seems to hold you in an important place in his heart too from the way he talks about you." Florian smiled.

Namine blushed lightly. "R-really? Zero does?"

Ava nodded. "It doesn't matter if he has an artificial heart or not. He cares about you very much-Even Florian and I can see it. Besides, even with his memories locked away, his heart still remembered you. Although, I don't quite think Lucille or Quartz have picked up on it yet," Ava told her.

Namine felt a twinge of guilt. _'Zero...'_

It took some time, but Zen and Lucille finally stopped their argument. They had their arms crossed and looking away from each other.

"Sorry about that, Namine. I think we've quelled the storm," Oswald apologized.

"Do you think they'll make up?" Quartz asked with a worried look.

"Oh, don't worry, those two will get over it soon. If there's one thing those two have in common, it's that they are both strong-willed, but Lucille doesn't hold a grudge for long," Ava reassured.

"Zen on the other hand sure loves to hold grudges," Gula sighed.

"Anyway, I say we better start lookin' for a way out of this memory world and into the next floor, which I'll bet my lucky foot is the fifth floor. So that just leaves..." Oswald tried to calculate the number of floors they would have to climb after reaching the fifth floor.

"That would be eight floors remaining to reach the very top. Six floors to reach the lab that Axel said it would be," Florian answered easily.

"Sounds about right." Oswald nodded.

"Well, we have enough cards to reach the top, but I don't even know what order we should do them in." Lucille pulled out the deck of cards that Zero gave to her.

They then heard a loud stomping noise not far from them.

"Uhhh...please tell me that's not something trying to kill us again..." Quartz panicked.

As if on cue, jumping down from above was a giant knight-like Heartless, very similar to the one they encountered back in Traverse Town.

"Hate to destroy your hope, but I think that's something that is going to try and kil us," Zen bluntly answered.

"The memory cards replicate not only the memory worlds but also the enemies you fought in the past within those worlds," Namine informed them.

"So this is a memory of the Heartless we fought back in Traverse Town? But we don't have Sora, Donald and Goofy with us this time," Florian noted.

Lucille pulled Namine back to shield her. "Don't worry, Namine, we'll protect you. Just stay behind us. We've beaten this thing once-we can do it again." Lucille summoned the Lux Arma and got ready to fight.

"This time, Ava and I will be able to help fight." Gula called forth his keyblade while Ava also summoned her own.

"But-" Namine started.

"Quartz, can you keep her safe?" Lucille asked.

Quartz saluted. "Leave it to me, ma'am. This way, Miss Namine." With that, Quartz gently took hold of Namine's arm and moved her away from the battle that would start at any moment.

The giant knight-like Heartless reeled up on its limbs and attempted to smash it down on the group, but they managed to jump out of the way. However, it left a powerful dent in the previously undamaged ground of the Third District.

It then tried to charge at Lucille and deliver a strong blow, but Lucille managed to block it with the Lux Arma and Ava countered it with her keyblade, causing the arm to rebound back towards the Heartless.

"Is it just me or is this Heartless tougher and quicker than the real one we fought?" Zen noted.

"Could it be that it's because we're in a memory world?" Oswald asked while casting a barrage of magic attacks at the Heartless. While the attacks were direct hits, it didn't seem to faze the Heartless. "Even my magic isn't doing much than it did before."

"Could it be...? Did Zero alter the memory of this Heartless and made it stronger?" Namine's eyes widened.

"He did what?! Why would he do that?! Does he want us dead or something?" Zen snapped.

"She didn't technically say that he did," Chi corrected.

"Zero told us, though, that all he can do is copy other people's abilities. He doesn't have powers of his own," Lucille remembered.

"...Actually..." Namine started, but she noticed the Heartless was attempting another attack. "Luclle, watch out!" Namine shouted to warn the brunette.

Lucille reacted and managed to stop the attack in time, but it did throw Lucille a far distance to the other side of the district.

"Are you okay?" Namine called out in worry.

"I'm fine! Thanks for that, Namine. That was way too close," Lucille reassured as she quickly got back up.

Ava and Gula were working with precise teamwork when battling the Heartless. Using their strengths to their advantage and defending each other's weaknesses when the Heartless tried to exploit them.

Zen used his claw arm and allowed it to grow as large as one of the Heartless's own limbs. He used it to keep one of its arms locked and pinned down to prevent it from moving around.

"Florian, think you can use your seraphic artes to help Zen?" Lucille ran back into the fight, stopping right where Florian stood.

Florian nodded. "It worked before, it should work again."

"Hurry up! This thing is getting restless! I can't keep this Heartless still forever," Zen warned them, noticing that his claw arm was starting to flare out of control.

Wasting no time, Florian used his magic paper charms and threw them towards the Heartless. The paper charms started to swirl around the Heartless like a small tornado of paper, and he started the incantation for the seraphic arte.

Seeming to sense this, the Heartless lifted its free arm that wasn't being locked by Zen's claw arm and fired out its fist like a missile, targeting the seraph.

"No!" Namine gasped.

Thankfully, Oswald jumped in front of Florian, who was still focused on his casting, and fired his own spell towards the incoming fist. "Stopga!" Like the spell intended, the fist was frozen in midair as if trapped in time.

"Binding Chains!" Florian finished, allowing the seraphic arte to take form. The tornado of paper charms transformed into blinding white chains and wrapped themselves around the Heartless, binding it tightly within its bonds.

"Now's our chance!" Oswald called out.

Not wasting their chance, Gula and Ava used their keyblades and struck at the same time, delivering a final blow to the Heartless which released a heart from its fallen corpse-although they all knew that heart wasn't a real one, just a memory like the Heartless itself.

"Whew. See? Cakewalk." Oswald fell onto his rear in relief.

"Yeah, right. For a memory, I definitely don't remember that thing being so tough last time," Zen scoffed. He allowed the Heartless claw to grow back down to its normal size and once again Merlin's bandages reappeared over his arm, taming the dark power and keeping it under control.

"Are you okay, Zen?" Lucille came over to ask her friend as she dismissed the Lux Arma. "It looked a little dicey with your arm back there."

"Yeah. It wasn't serious, but still...that was the first time I couldn't draw darkness into the claw. Could it be because that Heartless was just a memory?" Zen looked at his arm.

Namine nodded. "Correct. Everything here is just a memory given form because of the memory world that was created from Lucille's memories. So none of the Heartless here carry any real darkness."

"I'll have to be more careful then in the future. I usually quell this thing with the darkness I absorb into it. If I can't do that, that makes it more risky to use," Zen noted.

"Oh, so that's how it works," Florian clicked.

"It's not the most ideal solution, but it stops my arm from going on a murderous rampage," Zen added sarcastically.

"But doesn't that put your own heart at risk?" Lucille frowned.

"...Perhaps. Don't worry about me. I've managed this way for ten years. I'll be fine."

"Even so, from now on, don't use it so recklessly like before. At least not until we get out of this castle," Lucille told him.

Zen rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom." That rewarded him a punch from Lucille.

"You don't need to be sarcastic about it!"

"Um...guys...I don't mean to interrupt, but..." Quartz managed to squeeze into the conversation. "That heart your friends released is still floating there." Quartz pointed to the heart that Ava and Gula released with their keyblades.

But unlike most hearts that would float up skyward, this one just floated in mid-air.

"...This is quite unusual. If we weren't in such a hurry, I would have liked to analyze this some more," Gula noted.

Namine walked closer to the heart and it glowed a bright light. The heart began to take form, changing into a human-like shape. It wasn't until the light faded and the heart finished transforming that they could see who it was taking the form of. Zen recognized him almost immediately.

"Aster?! What the-?! How are you-?"

'Aster' simply shook his head. "I'm not the real Aster. Just a memory of him recreated from Lucille's memories."

"...So...you're Aster as I remember him?" Lucille asked to confirm.

"Exactly. This is where we first met, remember? You washed up here shortly after your world was devoured by the heartless. Zen and Oswald found you and Florian and brought you back to Cid's place to recover," memory Aster recalled in full detail.

"Oh, yeah...Man, that takes me back." Lucille softly smiled at the memory.

"Zero created me using your memory of the real Aster as a template, so I could protect two things he wanted to preserve for you-a message and a special item that will aid you once you reach the eleventh floor."

"...What? Wait, I'm confused. What do you mean Zero created you?" Quartz blinked.

"Zero didn't tell you the whole truth. While it's true that nearly the majority of his powers are copy abilities that allow him to replicate other people's abilities or even their memories. There's one ability that is unique to him, but it wasn't the one the Organization wanted him to have. So he was deemed a failure," Namine answered.

"So...Zero did have a unique power other than being a copycat? Then what was this 'ability'?" Chi pressed.

Namine sighed. "This is going to be hard to accept but...Zero has power over your memories, Lucille."

Lucille blinked a few times. "...Huh?" Once it actually sunk in, Lucille jumped back in shock. "WHAAAAAT? You mean he has the same power as you?! Except, instead of Sora's memories, he can change mine?!"

"Yes. That is probably why I was unable to change any of Sora's memories involving you to begin with. If he wanted to...he could have repeated my own mistake-but he didn't." Namine smiled sadly.

"But...why would Zero keep something that important from us?" Ava wondered.

"Maybe he felt ashamed. I mean, he essentially could have altered Lucille's memories exactly the same way Namine arranged and altered Sora's memories. I mean, he didn't, but there is a chance that he might have thought about it at least once," Oswald guessed.

Namine nodded. "Only myself, the leader of the Organization, Axel, another Nobody called Saix, and Vexen knew about Zero's hidden ability, but it wasn't what they wanted from him so they decided to throw him away and create a new one in his stead.

"That's awful!"

"But wait a minute...if you and those guys were the only ones that knew...that means Marluxia doesn't know, right?" Zen asked.

"Yes, that's why you have to keep this a secret. If that Memory Marluxia learns about this while he still has Zero under his control..."

"Lady Lucille will end up just like young Master Sora! We can't let that happen, right, Master Ava?" Chi panicked.

Ava nodded.

"That would explain why the Heartless we fought just now was much stronger that the real one we fought. Zero must have altered the memory of it," Gula theorized.

"But why would he do that knowing we would be in here?" Zen crossed his arms.

"Hey, I'm still here, you know," Memory Aster huffed and placed his hands on his hips.

"Oh, right! Heh heh, sorry." Lucille laughed sheepishly.

"So what Axel and that Memory Marluxia were saying was true. To their eyes, Zero really was just a puppet to them. Poor Zero, it must have been awful to be reminded of that constantly and then just thrown away as if his feelings didn't matter." Florian's heart hurt for Zero.

"They probably didn't think he had any. They're just as bad as the Heartless themselves," Zen spat.

"If you're wondering what happened just now...well...like you guessed, he altered this world to make sure what he left behind didn't fall into the wrong hands."

"The wrong hands?" Lucille blinked. "I'm lost. Just what was Zero doing with those memory cards? I thought he just replicated them!"

"He did...but let's just say Zero didn't have a lot of time left, so in case the worst happened, he left behind the deck of cards he gave to you, Lucille. He trusted that you would do the right thing when the time came to decide."

"...What do you mean 'Zero doesn't have a lot of time left'? Doing the right thing when the time came to decide? Decide what?" Lucille shook her head in confusion.

"I'm sorry. That's something that even I can't tell you or even Namine. That's a truth you have to learn on your own. You will find that truth in the lab where Zero was first created. The question is...once you learn the truth...would you still want to save him?"

"That's a dumb question! Of course we want save him. He's our friend. Sure, maybe we haven't know him that long but...I don't know why...but the thought of having him being controlled against his will like that pains me."

"...Memories are powerful tools, you know. They can be our best asset or our worst foe depending on how you see them. You know this better than anyone, don't you, Namine?" Memory Aster answered cryptically.

"..." Namine remained quiet.

"Either way, the reason why that Heartless appeared was to test you. To see how far you will go to learn the truth and what needs to be done to save your friend."

"So he didn't want whatever he left here to fall into someone's hands like Marluxia or that Axel guy so he gave it to you to guard it?" Oswald guessed.

"Pretty much." Memory Aster nodded.

"He couldn't have thought of an easier test," Zen groaned.

"Aw, that's no fun, Zen~" Memory Aster teased. "I have to clear up one little thing. It was my idea to use the Heartless you guys fought before. I mean, what better way to test your teamwork than in the heat of battle?" Memory Aster admitted.

"I see...so the Heartless was you in disguise," Namine realized.

Memory Aster nodded. "Guilty as charged. Was I convincing~?"

"...Even as a memory, you're still as infuriating as I remember." Zen glared.

"While its true that Zero has power over your memories, he didn't do anything to put your life in danger. That was all my idea to use the Heartless as an illusion. So in other words, it was me you were fighting just moments ago. The only thing he altered in this world was to implant something that originally doesn't exist in your memory."

"Something that didn't exist in my memory before?" Lucille repeated.

"He chose certain people from your memory and gave us something important to keep safe from the bad people-aka, those guys in the black coats. He also left us to decide how we would test you sooo...he gave us full reign to do as we please to test if you were worthy," Memory Aster explained.

"Well, that was reckless and stupid. What would have happened if one of these living memories decided they wanted to actually kill us?" Zen asked.

"Duh, why do you think he selected someone like me?" Aster winked. He then grew serious again. "He knew the dangers of giving figments like us power over these worlds, so he only chose the memories of people that Lucille had formed friendships with-people that he knew wouldn't betray you guys."

"You sure fooled me with that disguise of yours. You could have gone a little easier on us." Lucille smiled.

"Hey, had to make it convincing, otherwise you guys would have figured out it was all just an elaborate illusion, and that would ruin the whole test. Oh, by the way, there's only six of us. So there will be some worlds in that deck that will be empty and you can easily mosey on by without resistance. Would you like me to give you a hint which cards that Zero altered?" Memory Aster offered.

Lucille shook her head. "No, thanks. We'll figure it out on our own."

Memory Aster nodded and smiled. "Well good, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Oh! That's right, since you passed my little trial with that Heartless, I should give you the thing that Zero gave to me," Memory Aster recalled and dug out from one of his pockets the very thing that Zero gave to him to guard and protect.

It looked like a small star fragment. It glowed faintly in Aster's hand as he exchanged it into Lucille's hand.

"Is this...a fragment of a star?" Lucille wondered. Namine's eyes widened suddenly, but she didn't say anything about it.

"One of the six pieces you need to find. When you get all the pieces from the remaining five, it will provide you with the key you need to reveal the truth you want to find."

"The key?"

"You mean the password?" Florian asked.

"You got it." Memory Aster nodded.

"Zero left behind the password for us...so that means he must have known something would have happened to him." Lucille's eyes widened in realization.

"There's something you should know. It's very important." Memory Aster sounded grave. It gave everyone the impression that it was indeed important to commit to their memories.

"Normally, I wouldn't be this self-aware that I am just a living memory brought to life. Same goes for the other five. From here on, you will most likely encounter people you have met in your past but they will not realize they are illusions. All they will see are the walls of their world when, in truth, they are inside the castle's walls."

"Ever heard the saying 'ignorance is bliss'? Well, that saying holds very true for this castle. Zero warned you before, didn't he? About not getting carried away within the memory worlds?"

Lucille nodded. "He said don't get lost within your memories. Stick to the truth that you already know in your heart and don't stray."

Memory Aster nodded. "And he's right. You must remember, the seraphic artes woven into this castle's walls are very potent and they have one simple task: To keep those who would intrude on this sacred ground trapped within its walls and lost to oblivion."

"...I'm beginning to see why they call this place Castle Oblivion." Quartz sweat-dropped.

"You call this place sacred ground? Is that because there's a seraph guardian here?" Florian asked.

"I dunno about any Seraphim. I do know one thing, though... if you are not careful...you could be trapped here forever until you die. This castle will even use your own memories against you to trick you. Just pass through the worlds as fast as possible, find the other five star fragments, and don't get distracted," Memory Aster told them.

"Got it. We'll remember that." Zen nodded.

"You know...even though I know you're only a memory of the real Aster, I'm glad we got to meet you." Lucille smiled to Memory Aster.

"Heh, feels weird to be treated as if I'm the real one...but it's not at all unpleasant."

"Memory or not, you're still my best friend. After all, that never stopped you before when you had amnesia." Zen smirked.

"Heh, some things never change, huh?" Memory Aster smirked back and saw that his body was beginning to fade.

"Hey, what's happening to you?" Lucille gasped.

"He fulfilled his purpose. The star fragment was the only thing that kept him anchored here..." Ava sadly realized.

Memory Aster nodded and smiled sadly. "The lovely lady in pink hit it right on the nail. I just said not long ago that I shouldn't be this self-aware of my existence. That star fragment was not only something to keep safe from bad people but it was also what gave me my...special status within this world. Now that I've given it to you, I have to go back to being an oblivious memory now, just like everyone else."

"But..."

Namine gently placed a hand on Lucille's shoulder. "This is how Castle Oblivion works...there's nothing we can do to change it."

"Namine's right. It's okay, this is just the world correcting itself. I was an anomaly to begin with. Besides, even if I revert back to being a normal memory, you'll still remember that I existed, even if only a moment in time. That alone is enough," Memory Aster reassured them as his body began to fade to a point where he was now transparent and they could even see through him. "Give my regards to the real me!" Memory Aster winked just before he vanished completely.

"..." Lucille felt a pang in her heart. Even though she knew he was just a memory of their real friend, he didn't feel any different from the real one.

"Even as just a memory, he's as stupidly selfless as the real one," Zen spoke Lucille's words out-loud.

"I wonder who the other five from Lucille's memory are...if this is what awaits us every time we pass one of these tests..." Florian frowned. He wasn't sure if he was okay with seeing these living memories vanish in front of them as soon as they gave the remaining star fragments to them.

"This must be what Zero wanted us to prove-if we can overcome the pain and discover the truth he didn't want us to know about him," Ava guessed.

"Zero...Hang in there. We'll find a way to save you." Lucille looked at the star fragment in her hand and held it tightly yet securely.

"I'll put it in my pouch until we get the last five," Oswald offered.

Lucille nodded. "Yeah, last thing we need is either Memory Marluxia or one of the other guys in the black coats figuring out what we're up to." She handed the fragment to Oswald, who placed it in his pouch securely and tightened up the latch with a satisfied tap. Oswald gave her a thumbs up.

"Right, we better get out of here if we want to get to this eleventh floor sooner rather than later," Oswald told everyone.

Namine nodded. "I know where the exit is. Please follow me." Namine guided them knowing where the exit to this world was.

* * *

True to her word, Namine opened the way for them to exit the memory world of Traverse Town and they found themselves on the next floor. Like before, Ava and Gula had returned back within Lucille and Zen once they left the memory world.

"So what floor are we on now?" Quartz questioned.

"If we counted right, I bet we're on the fifth floor," Oswald answered.

"I need to return to the thirteenth floor. Sora, Donald and Goofy are depending on me." Namine smiled sadly.

"We understand. You took a big risk to come and find us, thanks," Lucille thanked. "We'll see you on the thirteenth floor once we've done what we needed to do in the lab."

Namine nodded and smiled. "Okay, I'll be waiting."

Lucille offered her little finger to Namine for the blonde girl to hook her own little finger around Lucille's. "That's a promise. Keep Sora safe till we get there. I'll have some choice words for that dummy brother of mine once he wakes up." Lucille grinned.

"I will. Oh, say goodbye to Ava and Gula for me when you see them in the next memory world," Namine told her.

"Sure, but I think they already know." Lucille winked.

With that, Namine made her way back to the thirteenth floor using a card that she had on her, passing through the door before it closed behind her.

"I hope she'll be able to get back up there okay...Maybe we should have brought her with us..." Quartz wondered.

"She's a tough cookie. She'll be okay," Oswald reassured the Nobody in the white coat.

"Well...you know what they say-onward and upwards." Lucille took out what looked like the memory card to Wonderland.

"Ooh, do you think we'll see Miss Alice in this memory world?" Florian asked.

"Hm...it's possible. I bet she's one of the remaining five that has those fragments we need, too. I remember we got a Lux fragment from her back then." Lucille nodded.

"Is that so..." Oswald rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe yer on to somethin' here, kid." He then nodded.

"Wonderland, huh? Sounds...Wonderful!" Quartz excitedly stated.

Everyone just gave him a deadpanned look.

"...What?" Quartz was innocently oblivious.

"That was just...horrible." Chi shivered.

"Let's just go before our living paradox here decides to throw another stupid pun that makes me want to hit my head against a wall." Zen grabbed Quartz's coat by his hood and dragged him along.

"Grrkk! Z-Zen, don't do that! You choke people that way!" Quartz scolded.

"Sounds tempting." Zen smirked. Quartz's horrified look to that response spoke a thousand words.

"He didn't mean it, Quartz! Zen, don't tease him like that, he takes things literally!" Lucille panicked and started to chase after them just in case Quartz went into panic mode.

Oswald simply sighed and shrugged his shoulders at the others as they followed.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Namine was heading her way back to the top floor, she encountered Riku and King Mickey. Diz must have sent them when they realized she was missing.

"There she is!" Mickey spotted her instantly.

"Are you alright, Namine? What were you thinking going alone like that?" Riku ran over and checked on the blonde Nobody.

"I'm alright, Riku. Thanks to Lucille and her friends, they kept me safe," Namine answered.

"So...she really is in this castle after all...I'm glad she's out of the Realm of Darkness." Riku sighed. "She could have at least not ended up in the same castle as her brother. Sora would never forgive me if I let anything happen to her," Riku then groaned.

"The important thing is that she's doin' okay! I knew she'd be alright. She's just like her brother." Mickey smiled.

"Oh, I also met your brother and his friend, your Majesty-Zen, I believe. When I mentioned the same offer that I gave to Riku, he turned it down as well. Um...he also tends to be a little hostile when I mention you."

"Oh gee, I wonder why..." Riku drawled with sarcasm.

"C'mon, Riku, Zen isn't all that bad. I met him while we were in the Realm of Darkness. If Oswald can trust him then he's gotta be a good person."

 _'Just the thought of that guy being there with Lucille makes my blood boil,'_ Riku thought darkly.

"Mickey, can you take Namine back to Diz? I'm going to keep an eye on Lucille and the others. Just in case that Memory Marluxia shows up along with Zero."

"You sure it's just for that reason?" Namine teased lightly.

Riku gave an annoyed look but sighed, "Okay, so maybe I'm worried about Lucille too. You know what she's like. She'll trust anything that has a pulse. That is going to backfire on her one of these days, I just know it. Besides...I still remember my promise to her. I intend to keep it."

"Be careful, Riku. Don't try to fight Marluxia or Zero on yer own. Don't forget I'm here to help ya out," Mickey told him.

Riku nodded and smiled at the Mouse King. "Of course, your Maj-I mean, Mickey." Riku caught himself from calling Mickey by his title again.

"Riku...Diz...told you to exterminate Zero if he becomes too much of a problem...didn't he?"

"..." Riku just silently nodded. "Don't worry. I won't resort to attacking Zero if there's a way we can help him. I can't guarantee how long I can avoid that conflict from happening, though. If he does end up becoming a threat to both Lucille and Sora..."

Namine nodded. "I...understand..."

With that, Riku went down the hallway in order to descend down the castle to the floor where Lucille and her friends were currently.

* * *

Wheee, this chapter took longer than intended, but it's finally done!

I'll probably be skipping a few worlds like Atlantica or any world that Lucille and the others really didn't do much in. One of the worlds, though, is going to be a special surprise, like how Twilight Town was a world Sora didn't know about but it was still a memory in his heart. =3

But it's not Twilight Town (although that is one of the memory worlds that's going to be visited. XD). Let's say it's a world that Lucille and her friends haven't seen before ,but Chi knows it along with two others. =3 I think you guys already know what world I'm talking about, so its not much of a secret. =P

But moogle brownie points to anyone who figures it out regardless. =D

Anyway, on to the review corner.

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Ctran03931:** Yup, all Lucille wanted to do was save her brother and his friends, but now things have gotten more complicated. XD At least Namine cleared things up for Lucille so she knows her brother isn't in as much danger as she thought originally. =3

 **Mysterygirl145:** As this chapter showed, Marluxia is still an insensitive jerk even as a memory. =P And yup, I had thought about leaving them out till KH2 but a lot of readers were wondering when they were going to show up again so I decided to squeeze them in. =3 I'm glad that the previous chapter went smoother than I thought with the reintroduction of Zen and Oswald. =D

Yeah, we know Axel becomes a better person throughout the Days Arc. =3 Since this is still Chain of Memories arc, and these events happened quite early during the Days storyline, I wanted Axel's change to be gradual. Don't worry, though. As Axel showed in this chapter, he's slowly starting to humanize and he still resents Marluxia, especially more so after what he did to Zero.

Poor Zero, he just can't catch a break. =(

 **Chirithy564:** lol I'm glad you think so fondly of Zero. =3 Don't worry, Zero's not dead. XD But what does Marluxia plan to do with him? Maybe the next chapter will tell? =3 Thank you for your review though. =D

 **Visitor:** They could work as worlds that can be explored but we'll worry about that when we get to KH2. XD But I will keep these ideas in mind. Thank you for your suggestion. =3

 **Guest:** Hmm...If Memory Marluxia could be brought back through the illusionary seraphic artes, who can say if others can't be as well. Maybe we'll see on the later floors, who knows, they might even aid our heroes somehow. =3

 **Heart:** Ooh, I do like that idea for a scenario and I might be able to weave it into the narrative for that world. I'll definately keep this idea in mind for KH2. =3 Thank you for your suggestion. =D If I did decide to add Cecil and Kain, I wonder if I should make use of a certain thing with Kain that happened during FF4 and use it for Olympus Colloseum? =3 We'll see~ =3

 **Gry22:** Again, this is an interesting idea that could help flesh out the story more. I'll keep this in mind when we get to Birth By Sleep but that could be some time away yet. XD But I do like this idea. Thank you for your suggestion. =3

 **Haxorus knight:** Ask and thou shall receive. XD Thank you for reading my story and favorited them. =3 I hope that you continue to enjoy the story as it progresses.

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

Might be some time before I finish the next chapter since I've recently been playing through Dragon Quest 11 and my god it is amazing. XD

So I could be distracted by that game for some time. Rest assured though, I will come back to update. =3

So until next episode, happy reading, everyone! Moogle Empress, out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	5. Episode 5: The Wonderland Mystery

**Episode 5: The Wonderland Mystery**

* * *

Using the memory card that opened the way to the memory world of Wonderland, Lucille and her friends found themselves in the familiar landscape of the colourful yet bizarre world. Like before, Ava and Gula reappeared as soon as they entered the memory world.

"So this is Wonderland? Look at all these flowers! They're so huggggeee! They're so colourful too!" Quartz gushed around, taking in the wonderment of this place.

"Quartz acts like such a little kid when it comes to seeing a world he's never seen before. It's actually kinda endearing." Lucille smiled warmly.

"It does make you wonder though, doesn't it? Just who was Quartz's original? He acts like an excitable kid, but he has the body of a young man-I'd even wager no older than Aster on first estimate. Perhaps his memory loss resulted in his regression back to a little kid mentally," Oswald wondered out-loud.

"Well, I still like Quartz this way," Florian stated.

"Alright, so we're in Wonderland-or at least Lucille's memory of that world. What should we do? Should we check to see if one of the five that Aster told us about is here?" Zen asked.

"I bet that Alice is the one Zero picked out to take care of one of the star fragments," Lucille answered.

"Who's Alice?" Quartz wandered back over to the group in time to hear Lucille talk about someone called Alice.

"Oh, she's someone we met here when we first came to Wonderland. She was being attacked by Heartless, and I used the Lux Arma to get rid of them," Lucille recalled.

"She also had a Lux Fragment that she gave to us as thanks for saving her," Florian added.

"Ah, I remember, that's when you also told us that you talked to that cat who told you about the Heartless that was pretending to be Alice," Oswald then recalled the next part.

"That's right. The Cheshire Cat," Florian confirmed.

"Then we fought that card-wielding jester Heartless, but the Queen thought we were also in cahoots with the Heartless. She was crazy," Zen remembered.

"Oh my...and you guys made it out okay?" Quartz asked.

"Alice stayed behind to try and explain our innocence. I didn't know back then she was one of the Seven Princesses of Heart." Lucille nodded.

"Um, what's a Princess of Heart? That sounds really important," Quartz asked.

"I figured you wouldn't know," Gula noted. "To put it bluntly, they are very special girls without a trace of darkness in their hearts."

Quartz sank this information in before asking another question. "So...if there's princesses like that, does that mean there's princes too?"

"Heh heh, we actually joked about that once too in this world." Lucille grinned.

"You might joke about it-I can't believe I'm saying this-but Quartz suggested a good point," Gula thoughtfully noted.

"You really think there could be seven Princes of Heart as well? That's ridiculous." Zen rolled his eyes.

"If this journey of ours has taught us something, it's that nothin' is impossible. I don't see how only Princesses can be the only ones with pure hearts. I mean we've met quite a few folk who aren't girls who fit that category too," Oswald agreed with Gula.

Lucille smirked. "Does Aster count?"

"Good grief, no. I do not want to imagine my best friend in a dress, thanks." Zen pinched the bridge of his nose while trying to block the image from his mind's eye.

"Hmmm..." Florian tried to think of anyone else who could be a Prince of Heart, if such a thing existed.

"Hm? I think I hear something that way. It sounds like...a court trial?" Chi pointed in the north direction.

"In this place? Aren't we the only ones here?" Ava wondered.

"Alone or not, the only way one can know for sure is if one goes to find out." A familiar voice reached their ears. It didn't take long for Lucille and Florian to realize who it was.

"Oh! You're the Cheshire Cat!" Lucille called out.

"Precisely-or to be exact-I am your memory of the real Cheshire Cat."

Oswald blinked. "He knows he's a living memory?"

"Hm...this feels like a trap. We were warned about something like this happening. I don't remember this happening when we arrived the first time." Gula crossed his arms.

"I know what it is you seek-you seek the star fragment that the boy left behind in this world. Alice is indeed part of the puzzle to find the fragment, but unfortunately, she is currently...detained by the Queen of Hearts."

"Um, can I ask how you know all this?" Florian wondered.

"You are wise to assume Alice was the likely candidate out of all the people of this world. However, she would be too easy to manipulate due to the nature of her heart. If one were cunning, Alice could unknowingly hand over the fragment to the wrong person-which would have been quite unfortunate for you. So the boy decided on someone else to prevent the risk."

"So basically he went down the list and you were the next one after her?" Zen crossed his arms with a raised skeptical eyebrow.

"Perhaps or perhaps not. That is for you to decide. I am merely the observer and guide. Like I said, though, Alice is part of the puzzle that you will need to find this star fragment of yours. You see...this is all a test that the hooded boy created, a test of wisdom."

"We were told that Zero gave free reign to the ones he gave the star fragments too. Are you saying you don't have it on you?" Zen narrowed his eyes.

"Well...I may have had it~ But who is to say I didn't have a paw in this test as well?" the Cheshire Cat cryptically told them.

"I think I understand. We're being tested. I think we're meant to find a way to save Alice from the Queen of Hearts using our wisdom and guile," Ava clicked.

"It appears one of you seems switched on." the Cheshire Cat grinned toothily.

"Alright, if that's your game, we'll play it. Any other clues we should know?" Lucille challenged.

"Oh, yes, one other thing to remember...there's an impostor within the Queen of Hearts' court, the same one who framed poor Alice. That impostor will most likely do everything in their power to prove Alice guilty. Keep your eyes peeled for that impostor, for if Alice is beheaded, you lose, and you will forfeit your right to claim the star fragment."

"So we can't afford to get this wrong. We've only got one shot to get the fragment," Gula warned.

"Well, one thing is for sure, I don't care if that lady is the Queen of Hearts! There's no way I'm letting her behead Alice."

"You do realize we are all but mere illusions of the real ones, yes? You could break their fake hearts if you so wanted and you would not feel any repercussions from it. Even I am still just a memory in the end."

Lucille shook her head. "Memory or not, they're still people to me. Even if she's just a memory in this place, she's still just as much of my friend as the real Alice. Heck, I even consider you a friend...even though you literally speak nothing but riddles most of the time."

"Intriguing...By all means then, save Alice if you can. Just remember, this is a test of wisdom and logic-reckless actions and raw power will do you no good here." The Cheshire cat gave one last piece of advice before he started to fade away. "I'll be rooting for you~"

"I swear that cat is secretly plotting our deaths." Chi shivered.

"I don't think Zero would have picked the Cheshire Cat if he thought there was a chance he would betray us, Chirithy," Oswald reassured.

"I know the Cheshire Cat is...well, okay. He's certainly not my first choice, but he was the one who told us about the fake Alice the first time when we first came to Wonderland. Wait a minute...a fake Alice...an impostor within the Queen's court...could it be that...?" Lucille began to click the pieces into place.

"I believe you're right. This could be the same Heartless we fought here brought back through this memory world," Ava agreed with Lucille's theory. "We have to remember, the Cheshire Cat speaks with cryptic words most of the time, but his words do hold an element of truth within them."

"First thing's first, we need to stop that crazy queen's trial so we have time to figure out who the impostor is impersonating this time." Oswald pointed to the hedged archway that would lead to the Queen of Hearts' castle.

"...She doesn't really behead people, does she?" Quartz asked "Seems a bit excessive regardless of whatever crime they pinned Miss Alice too."

Lucille shrugged her shoulders. "Heck if I know, but I'd rather not find out."

They hurried to the Queen of Hearts' castle in order to prevent the court from ending with Alice's verdict being carried out.

* * *

Once arriving at the courtyard of the Queen of Hearts' castle, Chi was the first to alert them.

"Lady Lucille! I see them, it looks like the court hasn't finished yet!" Chi pointed out.

"Wait, let's listen in on what they're saying first. It might give us an idea just why Alice is being put on trial," Gula suggested.

They sneaked close enough so they could listen in without being spotted by the playing card soldiers.

The saw a White Rabbit, similar in size to Oswald but wearing the tabard of the Queen of Hearts. They never saw that person there before so why was he in this memory world?

The White Rabbit blew into his horn to commence the trial properly. "Court is now in session!"

"Why am I on trial? I have done nothing wrong," Alice requested.

"Oh, you have not, have you? So you do not recall attempting to steal my memories, girl?" The Queen was not convinced in the slightest and accused her of the crime.

"What? I have done no such thing! Why would I want your memories, your Majesty? It makes no sense!" Alice gasped.

"Are you accusing ME of lying, thief?!" The Queen bellowed.

"Oh no, your majesty. I just think you have the wrong person," Alice reasoned.

"I remember very clearly the thief who nearly tried to make off with my memories-and they looked exactly like you! My word is law, you hear me?" The Queen countered.

That gave Lucille and the others enough information to know what happened.

"I see. I assume that is our impostor at play here. It must have tried to steal the Queen's memories, but when it failed it took on Alice's appearance to make the Queen believe it was Alice," Gula clicked.

Ava nodded. "I agree with Gula. When it managed to frame Alice and get her arrested, it must have taken on the appearance of someone else who is now within the Queen's Court," Ava added.

"But who could it be? It could be anyone." Lucille crossed her arms.

"Well, do you have any proof to prove that you are innocent?" came the Queen's snide comment.

"You arrested me on the spot! I had no time to gather any proof of my innocence-which I know I am!" Alice crossed her arms defiantly. "Please, your Majesty! You're not being fair!"

"Hmph. I show no mercy to miscreants who steal memories. So by my royal decree, Alice, I find you guilty for entering my castle uninvited and the attempted theft of my memories! Off with her head!"

Lucille gasped in horror and without thinking she broke out of hiding. Quartz also ran into the courtyard, following Lucille.

"Lucille! Quartz! Wait!" Florian panicked and chased after them.

"We shouldn't enter a court in progress!" Chi cried out and also chased after her.

Zen sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I expected her to pull a stunt like this."

"This is Lucille we're talking about," Gula agreed with Zen. "So much for keeping out of sight."

With that, the others followed after them in case the Queen decided to arrest them as well.

"Wait a minute, your Majesty!" Lucille called out to the Queen of Hearts.

"And who are you? How dare you interrupt my court!"

"Oh my, do I know you from somewhere? You seem awfully familiar." Alice was surprised but somehow she could tell they were here to help her.

"Heh, you could say that." Lucille grinned before turning back to the Queen with a determined look. "Listen, Alice is telling the truth, she's not the one you're after."

"You implying that I am wrong in my judgement? That is treason in this land!"

"You might be the Queen of this land but...that doesn't give you the right to just accuse anyone without reason. A good ruler should know that," Quartz bluntly stated.

"Silence! How dare you chastise me!" The Queen yelled at Quartz.

"Eeek! She's scary!" Quartz yelped and hugged Lucille out of fear.

"Quartz, I know you're trying to help but let us do the talking." Lucille smiled softly and patted the Nobody's back.

"Kay..." Quartz sniffled.

Lucille pulled Quartz off her and turned back to the Queen. "Alright, how about this? We'll act as on Alice's behalf to find the proof that she's not the culprit."

"Lucille, what are you doin'?" Oswald panicked at Lucille's idea.

"And what if you fail to find the proof to convince me?" The Queen asked.

"Well...um..." Lucille was unsure how to respond to that.

"If you fail to find the proof that Alice is innocent of the crime I accused her of, I'll behead all of you! Let it never say that I am not a merciful ruler for not giving one the chance to prove me wrong otherwise."

"HOW'S THAT MERCIFUL?!" Zen shouted.

"Well...Alright, it's a deal! We'll find your real culprit and prove that Alice had been innocent all along. When we do, you have to clear Alice of all charges and allow us to leave with our heads intact."

"Hmph. Very well. Gather your proof. Report to one of my guards when you are ready to exhibit your evidence. You will only get one chance to prove me wrong. However, I know I'm right because I say so!"

"This Queen's out of her mind." Gula shook his head.

"It's fortunate, though. This means we're not on a time limit," Ava whispered.

"Oh, one more thing. Can we ask Alice some questions before leaving? I imagine you won't let her leave the court for now," Lucille added.

"Hmph, very well. Be quick about it, though. I do not like to be kept waiting. You may explore the Castle's hedge maze where the theft attempt took place, but I'll definitely be keeping my eye on you lot. Court is now suspended until further notice." The Queen slammed her scepter down on the wood to declare the court was now suspended.

"I'm ever so sorry for dragging you into this terrible mess. Honestly, that Queen-I had no idea that someone tried to steal her memories. It is true that I was in the hedge maze at the time. I saw some of the guards trying to paint the roses red after they accidentally planted white ones! Apparently, the Queen would have beheaded the guards if she found out the roses weren't red at all," Alice explained.

"...Why would the Queen get upset about white roses?" Florian looked confused. Lucille simply shrugged her shoulders. "For all we know, Flo-she'd get upset about anything."

"At least we know Alice has an alibi, still...that doesn't really help us any to find any proof to convince the Queen that Alice was framed," Ava noted.

"I'm sure we'll find some evidence left behind by the real culprit," Lucille encouraged.

"What were you thinking barging in like that, island girl? You could have gotten us all killed." Zen asked.

"Well...yeah...I know that was reckless. I'm sorry, but I couldn't just stand there and let them wrongfully accuse Alice for something we know she didn't do. The Queen could have killed her right there and then," Lucille apologized.

Oswald patted her arm. "We know, Lucille. Yer not wrong for wanting to defend Alice, but you did put yourself in a lot of danger just then. We're dealing with a loony for a Queen, ya know."

"It was a very brave thing you did. Thank you so much for defending me. Perhaps it may have been reckless, but I am certain if you had not jumped in at that moment, that Queen would have beheaded me on the spot." Alice smiled kindly.

"I can't argue with that." Zen nodded. Alice did make some sense there, especially with the Queen being so unpredictable.

"Still, it worked in our favor. We now just have to make sure what evidence we find is exactly what we need."

"Alright Alice, we'll be back soon. We'll prove to her that you're innocent, I promise." Lucille reassured the girl in the blue frock.

"For some reason, I feel like I can believe you. Please be careful, Wonderland has been rather dangerous to walk through recently." Alice nodded.

The group followed Alice's guidance as they entered the Queen of Hearts' hedge maze, unknowing that the Cheshire Cat was observing them from afar.

The Cheshire Cat glanced his cat-like eyes towards the White Rabbit, who was one of the last to leave the courtyard. "My, I wonder if they have figured out the key clue yet? This will be at least entertaining to watch unfold, for better or for worse." The Cheshire Cat grinned before disappearing once again.

* * *

Walking through the Hedge Maze with Alice leading the way, they looked at their surroundings to take in the view.

"This maze is pretty incredible. I wonder how long it took to make it?" Lucille commented.

"Such a thing would take a lot of time and dedication to get right, Lady Lucille," Chi answered.

"I wonder if that Queen even appreciates it," Gula gave a comment of his own.

"Gula, you do realize the Queen has guards all around the exits of this place, right? They could tell her what you just said," Zen reminded.

"You forget, I could just hide inside your heart and they'd never know I'm here," Gula countered.

"Use me as a meat shield, buddy, and you'll be getting yourself a new successor." Zen glared.

"I was joking, Zen." Gula sighed. "Aster was right-you really are too serious. You should act more like your age."

Zen gave him a blank look. "I'm fifteen."

"Precisely my point, you're still so young and you already sound like a jaded old man." Gula smiled triumphantly.

"To be fair, Gula, you were kind of like Zen back then too-or at least you didn't socialize that much outside me, Invi, Aced and Ira," Ava recalled.

"Ava, don't tell him that!" Gula quickly defended.

"Ohhhh...is that right? Ava, you and I need to talk later about what Gula was like when he wasn't freeloading in people's hearts."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Gula groaned.

"Are they alright?" Quartz whispered to Lucille.

"Aw, don't worry. They act like this all the time. It's a boy thing, I think. I mean, my brother and Riku fight like that too and they're the best of friends," Lucille reassured.

"Oh...I wonder if I had any friends or family when I was still a Somebody? Like, a brother or sister that I've forgotten about? Probably not..." Quartz chuckled sadly.

Lucille patted Quartz's back. "Hey...You never know. I bet they're still out there. Okay, so maybe they might not recognize you as a Nobody since you have that problem with no one being able to see your face besides everyone here so far, but I think if your family bonds are close enough, they'd be able to tell even if they don't see your face," Lucille comforted.

"You're very sweet, Lucille." Quartz smiled sadly. "But I doubt that's possible for me. I'm an annoying Nobody who apparently can create crystalized light-or Lux-or whatever they called it-from my fingertips and can't even remember my real name or who my original was. I'm a wreck."

Lucille smiled kindly. "I think you're fine the way you are, Quartz. Sure, you're a little bit spacey. I think that's part of your charm, though."

Quartz didn't say anything but smiled kindly at her.

Florian noticed that something was ahead of them. Upon closer inspection, it looked like an open clearing that was used for playing Croquet.

"Oh, here we are, this is the place that the Queen of Hearts said the attack took place. We don't really have much to go on, huh?" Chi noted.

"Maybe we should have talked to the Queen to get her side of the story too," Lucille suggested.

"I don't know, Lucille. She seemed so certain that Alice was the attacker." Florian shook his head.

"I doubt she'd give us an honest answer either." Gula shrugged.

Florian noticed something nearby hidden in a corner of the croquet yard. He walked over to pick it up. "Is this...a mask?"

Chi climbed on to Florian's head and also took a good look at it. "It looks similar to one you would wear to a masquerade ball."

The others followed over to take a look at the mask as well.

"Now that I think about it, the Heartless we fought when we first came here wore a mask too, didn't it? It looked like a joker," Zen recalled.

"This could be how it changes form. It uses masks as a way to create disguises and when they discard their old disguise they remove the mask and create a new one," Gula theorized.

"Its official, we're definitely dealing with the same Heartless we fought before," Oswald confirmed.

"I assume the attempt failed, though, as the Queen clearly seems to remember the event," Zen added.

"Or did it?" Quartz wondered. "I mean, maybe this Heartless didn't get all of the Queen's memories, but what if it was able to capture some of her memories? That would explain why she seems so sure Alice was the culprit."

"...You scare me sometimes, Quartz. You really do." Zen blinked at the surprisingly good question Quartz asked.

"Wait, did I say something stupid again?" Quartz panicked.

"No, actually it's something that we didn't even think about. Maybe the Queen did actually see the Heartless' true form, but it robbed her memory of that. That might be why she only remembers that Heartless taking on Alice's form-hence why she accused Alice." Lucille shook her head.

"Hmm...That's actually a good theory as well. However, we lack any evidence to prove that happened. The only way to know is to get those memories back from the real thief," Gula thoughtfully added.

"Question is...who is the Heartless taking the form of now? If this mask was what it used to disguise itself as Alice, that means its impersonating someone else now."

"The Cheshire Cat said there was an impostor in the Queen's court," Oswald recited the words that the Cheshire Cat hinted at.

"He also said that reckless actions and raw force won't get us anywhere here. If anything it'll work against us. We clearly have to use our brains this time to outsmart this Heartless."

"I'm surprised that Heartless could even be this clever," Chi commented.

"Most of them aren't. Heartless usually act on primal instincts and act more impulsive. A lot of old Masters used to say that 'the greater the darkness one's heart harbors within, the stronger their Heartless will be'. I bet that means they're not only stronger but smarter too," Oswald answered.

"Doesn't that usually apply for strong hearts?" Zen countered.

"Which is why I said most of them aren't this clever like this Joker of ours. We're dealing with a crafty one, alright." Oswald crossed his arms.

"Um...I know this might sound odd, but did we ever meet a White Rabbit when we visited this place before?" Florian wondered.

"A white rabbit? You mean the one that we saw in the courtyard where they were holding that—hey, wait a minute-! That's right! We never met a White Rabbit during our first time here!" Lucille clicked.

Florian nodded. "Those are my thoughts too. Why would a White Rabbit be here if this world was a memory world built around Lucille's memory of this place?

"Hmm...I think we may have found our impostor. I can't believe we overlooked something so obvious. I don't think Zero was kiddin' when he said this place would try to use our memories against us." Oswald gave this some thought before agreeing as well.

"Well, that's great and all, but how are we going to convince the Queen one of her own subjects is being impersonated? More importantly, what happened to the real White Rabbit?" Zen asked.

"I imagine the Heartless would have to copy the original first. So the genuine White Rabbit of this world must be held captive somewhere."

Quartz gulped. "I hope that Heartless didn't actually...you know...steal their heart."

"Let's hope not, otherwise we'll struggle to convince the Queen that the one next to her is the same one who attacked her and that could ruin our chances to prove Alice's innocence." Ava commented.

"So we need to find the real White Rabbit of this place. If we find and free him, he'll vouch for us...hopefully," Oswald explained their next move.

"Would that be enough, though?" Gula asked. Even if we did free the real one...how do we tell the two apart? If there's one thing this Heartless is good at, it's is playing pretend."

"We could ask something that only the real one would know? I'm sure that the White Rabbit would know something that the fake White Rabbit wouldn't," Florian suggested.

"It's a long shot...but it might just work," Ava replied.

Lucille nodded. "Sure, I have no problem with that. Question now is where did that Heartless hide the real one?" Lucille then wondered.

Just then Florian sensed something in the bushes. He carefully walked over to the source of the noise and pulled a few branches of the hedge aside to reveal what was hidden inside.

"Um, guys...I found him," Florian notified to alert the others, who hurried over. It was indeed the one they were looking for-tied up and gagged. It seemed like he had been flailing his legs out and letting out muffled noises through the gag.

"You know for all the intelligence this Heartless supposedly has...it wasn't very smart about hiding its prey," Gula noted bluntly.

"How did you know he was here?" Chi asked.

"I didn't, I just felt their aura from where I was. It must be because I'm a Seraph. Our senses are heightened as a result of our nature as 'beings of light'. If that makes sense," Florian honestly answered.

"That's our Flo." Lucille beamed.

"Well, whatever it was, it sure saved us a lot of trouble. Let's get him untied." Zen proceeded to undo the knots on the rope and freed the White Rabbit.

"Are you alright, Mr. White Rabbit?" Quartz asked.

"I must thank you for helping me get out of that embarrassing predicament! As the Queen's aide, I should have never allowed this to happen! Ooh, if the Queen knew about this, she'd have my head for sure!" The White Rabbit thanked.

"That'd be a bit extreme, considering it wasn't your fault," Lucille responded.

"Can you tell us what happened, Mr. White Rabbit?" Chi asked.

"Well, I was on my way to the Queen's castle for an important meeting with her Majesty. That was when I saw a horrible thing! This awful looking creature took the form of a young girl and approached the Queen. I don't quite know what it did, but it made the Queen faint and started to pull something out from her! Of course, I rushed in to help Her Majesty, but I think I startled the thing, and it stopped what it was doing before it could finish," the White Rabbit began to explain his version of the events.

"Quartz was right after all! It only got a few of the Queen's memories!" Florian realized.

"...Oh, wow...Guys, I think I'm psychic!" Quartz cheered.

Zen rolled his eyes. "Anyway, pushing that aside for the moment, what happened after that?"

The White Rabbit gave it some thought before continuing, "It then came after me and...the next thing I knew, I was tied up and gagged and hidden within the hedges of this maze."

"So you don't know that the creature that attacked you is now impersonating you and framing Alice for the whole crime."

"What?! It replaced me?!"

"Maybe we should tell you the whole story," Oswald then proceeded to tell the chain of events that led to this very moment to the White Rabbit.

"Oh dear, oh my! It must be plotting to try and attack her again once the trial is over! I must hurry to the Queen's side and tell her the truth! I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear! Oh my! I'm here, I should be there!" The White Rabbit panicked.

"Calm down! Look, we want to prove that the impostor is a big fake too. So maybe we can help each other? We want to prove Alice is innocent since the Queen doesn't remember that it was an impostor that looked like Alice that tried to steal her memories, but we need your testimony as evidence to back us up," Lucille explained.

"And this will help the Queen too, yes?" The White Rabbit asked.

Lucille nodded. "I hope it does. I think the Queen might also expect you to be the impostor if we tell her what you told us, though. So is there anything that only you and the Queen of Hearts knows?"

"Hmm...Oh! I do believe I know something that the impostor would never know on their own!" The White Rabbit declared.

Gula nodded. "I think we have enough to make a solid defense. It's still a risk, but considering our options, this is our only choice that has a good chance of success."

"You really think this will work?" Zen asked.

"To be honest, this has a 50/50 chance of going wrong or right for us. Like Master Oswald said, though, after everything that's happened to us, anything's possible," Gula answered.

"Let's just hope that our one shot doesn't blow up in our faces." Zen sighed.

"If you are all ready, I shall guide you all back to the court room," The White Rabbit offered.

As they all began to follow the White Rabbit back to where the Queen of Hearts was waiting along with Alice, Ava turned to Florian with a thoughtful look.

"Florian, I've been meaning to ask you something about the Union Drive," Ava started.

"Hm? What is it, Master Ava?" Florian curiously replied.

"I've been meaning to find a way to allow Lucille to borrow my powers during combat when we're back in the real world. I want to do more to help, but outside of these memory worlds, I'm nothing more than a ghost. However, I wanted to ask you..." Ava then whispered her idea into Florian's ear, low enough so only the seraph could hear.

"You know Master Ava, I think that might actually work. The Union Drive isn't exclusive to the Seraphim, but it did originate from us. It should be possible to make union drives with others too depending on their compatibility." Florian nodded.

"That's what I hoped you would say. In a way, it's a bit like training to prepare her for what's to come when she will have to take her keyblade training more seriously." Ava softly chuckled.

"You really care for Lucille, don't you?" Florian smiled.

Ava nodded.

"Hey, what you guys doing over there? C'mon, we're going back to the courtroom!" Lucille called out to Florian and Ava.

"Perhaps we should talk about this later," Ava told Florian.

"Right, we've still got to complete this trial," Florian agreed.

Ava and Florian caught up to the others as they returned to the courtroom to show their 'evidence'. They just hoped it was enough.

* * *

Back in the courtroom, where the Queen of Hearts was waiting with Alice trapped in a bird-like cage next the queen's seat.

"Your Majesty! We're back!" Lucille announced as they entered the courtroom.

"Oho, so you have come to face your judgement? Or do you in-fact have proof?" The Queen challenged.

"Lucille, leave this to me. I'm pretty good at this sort of thing," Gula told her.

Ava chimed in. "It's true, Gula's quick to figure out things like this."

"Sure, Alice is counting on us so we can't mess this up." Lucille nodded.

"I just hope you really are good at this sort of thing." Zen crossed his arms.

"You have so little faith." Gula shook his head and sighed.

"Your Majesty, on behalf of my friends, I will act as Alice's defense."

"Hmph, very well, you-take Alice back into the box-and be quick about it!" The Queen ordered the nearby card soldier to unlock the bird-cage like prison Alice was in and took her back into the box where Gula was waiting.

"Were you able to find what you were looking for?" Alice wondered.

Gula nodded. "Don't worry, Alice. No matter what happens we won't let the Queen behead you."

"Well? Go ahead," the Queen scoffed.

"Very well, if I recall right, you claim that you saw Alice attempt theft of your memories as you saw her standing before you when you came about."

"That is so." The Queen nodded.

"But how do you really know that was actually Alice and not an imposter who looked just like her?" Gula asked.

"I could never mistake that girl! It was Alice, I tell you! Even my servant here bore witness to the whole thing!"

"W-why yes. I did, it was truly quite frightening."

"Oh really...?" Gula curled his lips upwards. "Allow me to pose a theory to you. What if your servant isn't who you think he is?"

"How dare you! Are you presuming that I can't tell my own servants apart?"

"That is indeed what I am claiming as my statement. Your real culprit is a master of disguise, your Majesty. They are able to shape-shift into various forms by simply looking at them once, but if two of them were to appear at the same time that would indeed be very messy to explain."

"Just get to the point, you fool!" The Queen bellowed.

"You want evidence, you shall have your evidence. Mr. White Rabbit, I believe this is your moment to step in." Gula turned to the White Rabbit who was with the group and appeared before them.

"What?! There's two of them?!"

Even the White Rabbit who was posing nearby the Queen's stand looked slightly panicked.

"Indeed, your Majesty! I am the real one, the one standing next to you who stole my appearance is only pretending to be me. It was that...dark creature that tried to steal your memories, your Majesty! Miss Alice was nowhere near the castle when this occurred."

"He lies, your Majesty! They are the real culprits, using Alice as their shield!" The other White Rabbit accused.

"No, the one standing with us is the real one. According to what he told us, he was there when you tried to steal the Queen's memories, but because the real White Rabbit stopped you during your attempt, it failed and you had to quickly hide yourself away. So you kidnapped the real one and took on his appearance to deceive the Queen and then falsely accuse Alice by claiming you saw her do it instead," Gula continued.

"It's true! Every little detail! Your Majesty, I would never wish for any harm to come to you." The real White Rabbit nodded earnestly.

"You! Explain yourself!" The Queen glared at the White Rabbit that was on the stand nearby her.

"I am the real one! I can prove it!"

"Oh, can you? Alright then, how about we let the Queen of Hearts decide for herself? You should know your own servant better than anyone, your Majesty. Ask them a question, a question that only the real one would know." Gula turned to the Queen.

"He's actually not bad at this whole wordplay thing, is he?" Oswald whistled.

"I have to admit, he's doing better than I thought he would," Zen admitted.

"I told you. Gula's very smart. He was always the first to put pieces together quickly," Ava proudly stated.

"Heh, well, I'm impressed." Lucille smiled.

Quartz just looked all confused. "So...we're winning, right?"

"It all depends on what the question is. It has be something that the impostor wouldn't know about," Chi told Quartz.

"Very well, answer this question: That horn, how did you acquire it?" The Queen questioned the White Rabbit that was nearest to her.

"W-why you gave it to me of course, your Majesty. When I first begun my duties here as your servant."

"And you? What is your answer?" She then turned to the real White Rabbit.

"Oh, I remember it well, your Majesty. It was actually a horn that I had in my house that you took a liking too. I offered it as a gift to you, but you said it would be better for me to announce your presence when I first became your trumpeter."

The Queen glared darkly at the fake one. "How dare you lie to me! You think you could get away with making a fool of me?! GUARDS! OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" The Queen ordered loudly, pointing her heart-like hammer towards the fake White Rabbit.

"YOU. You ruined everything!" The fake White Rabbit realized it could no longer pretend and glared with hatred at the people below. Even his voice started to shift, removing the guise finally. It revealed its true colours. It was indeed the very same card-wielding joker that they fought before in the real world.

"We've caught you red-handed! You can't pretend anymore." Lucille pointed at the Heartless.

Letting out a loud ear-piercing screech, it hovered and then zoomed out of the courtyard, heading back into the hedge maze.

"Don't just stand there! After that thing, you fools! I want to see the wretch executed before this day is over! Or I'll chop off all of your heads as well!" The Queen bellowed at the card soldiers, which responded in a panic to carry out the Queen's orders.

"I'll take over from here. I might be able to calm the Queen down before you try talking to her again. Thank you for what you've done. You saved this kingdom from being deceived completely," the White Rabbit thanked.

"Take care of the Queen, Mr. White Rabbit. We'll get rid of that Heartless once and for all," Florian reassured.

"Alright, time to end this trial once and for all." Oswald punched one of his fists into his open one.

Lucille nodded. "It went back to the Hedge Maze. I have a pretty good idea where he'll be. We'll be back soon, Alice. Stay here where it's safe."

With that the group ran out of the courtyard and into the hedge maze. Alice looked on, bringing her two hands together in a prayer. "Thank you, everyone. Please be careful, you're so close to reaching the end of the trial."

The Cheshire Cat appeared next to Alice. "Well, Alice, dear, it looks like they managed to use their wisdom and guile after all. You weren't wrong about them."

Alice smiled and nodded. "I had faith in Lucille and her friends and I was right. Is it really necessary for them to fight that thing?" Alice wondered.

"Better to end things with a bang rather than a whimper, yes?" Cheshire Cat grinned widely.

"Oh dear...I hope they'll be alright." Alice looked worried and hoped that they'd defeat the Heartless.

* * *

They chased the Heartless back into the hedge maze and like Lucille suspected, it returned to the clearing where they had fought the Heartless the first time back in the real Wonderland.

"Stop running! Your charades end here," Oswald declared. Summoning his keyblade to his hand, He tried to swipe at the Heartless, but it used one of its cards to block the attack swiftly.

With his attack deflected, Oswald jumped back before the Heartless could make a counter-attack.

"Be careful. Like the Heartless back in Traverse Town, this one has probably been upgraded."

"But wait...Heartless in the memory worlds don't have real darkness in them...is it okay for Zen to fight?" Lucille asked.

"I'm not an invalid, Island girl. Besides, I've trained myself for occasions like this." Zen rolled his eyes.

"Despite the improved reactions, I think this Heartless could be defeated in a single strike. We just need to hit his core."

"Lucille, I have an idea that might work. It's actually something I've been planning to teach you since you inherited my Keyblade." Ava turned to Lucille.

"Hm? Well, if you have an idea that could work on this Heartless, let's hear it."

"We'll keep the Heartless busy. Just don't take too long." Zen told them before he unleashed his Heartless claw from the magic bandages that would otherwise keep it under control. He joined Oswald and Gula in distracting the Heartless by keeping its attention on them, dodging the many giant cards that it threw at them and the close-range claw attacks by the Heartless.

"Okay, we haven't got much time so I'll be brief. I've talked to Florian about the possibility of perhaps combining my power with yours-the same way you and Florian can combine your powers to create a new one. I believe the Seraphim call it the 'Union Drive'," Ava explained.

"Is that possible?" Lucille blinked in surprise, looking at Ava and then at Florian.

Florian nodded. "In truth, anyone could do a 'Union Drive', although those outside the Seraphim would call it by another name-the 'Drive Form'. They're both exactly the same in function, but the Union Drive has one unique perk-it can change and evolve as the host grows stronger along with their union partner. You know, kind of like how I was able to change your wooden sword into a seraphic weapon and the Lux Arma had gotten stronger alongside you," Florian tried to explain.

"So...this Drive form can't do that but the Union Drive can change depending on the person?" Lucille summarized.

Ava nodded. "In theory, as the host and the one they unite with become stronger and learn new skills, their powers when merged become even stronger and those skills evolve and become stronger as a result. Since I am a part of you, it's very possible that you could temporarily inherit all my powers and skills within the time we are united."

"Wait, are you saying I can just absorb all your wisdom and power for a limited amount of time through the Union Drive? Would that even work?" Lucille gasped.

"Well...we actually don't know. I don't think anyone has ever tried it." Ava shook her head.

"There's one way to find out, though. Give it a shot!" Florian beamed.

"Will you be okay though, Flo? What if this breaks some hidden rule with the Seraphim Pact?" Lucille asked.

Florian nodded. "Don't worry, just because you merge with someone else doesn't mean the Seraphim Pact is breached. It's actually possible to have more than one Seraphim bound to a pact but...it does cause a massive strain on the host's heart."

Lucille slowly nodded. "Okay then, can you teach me how to do the Union Drive with others?"

Florian saluted. "Yup! Leave it to me!"

Ava faced Lucille and prepared herself. "Are you ready?"

"You bet. Florian, go ahead with the Union Drive activation." Lucille nodded.

Florian nodded and started the seraphic arte immediately.

Meanwhile, the boys were busy keeping the Heartless' attention on them.

Oswald turned behind him to see the Chirithy not far away. "Hey Chirithy, how much longer are they going to take?"

"Oh, they'll be ready any minute! Master Ava is attempting a new method of training for Lady Lucille," Chi told her.

"Method of training?" Zen raised an eyebrow.

As if to illustrate Chi's point, a blinding light along with a powerful gust of wind blew past them. It was so strong that it almost made Oswald lose his balance.

"What the-?" Oswald turned behind him to see what was going on. All he and the others could see was a blur of pink, white and a flash of brunette hair blast past them with Ava's Keyblade in one hand and Lucille's Lux Arma in the other.

Before the Heartless could react to defend itself, Lucille made a clean spin strike and stunned the Heartless.

Now that they could see Lucille, they saw that her clothes had changed to pink and white like Ava's robes and she wore a fox mask over her face.

"Whoa...This feels a little different from when I merge with Florian. I feel...more strong than usual with the keyblade now." Lucille was in awe of her transformation.

"That's because all my knowledge and skills as a Keyblade Master are temporarily given to you thanks to our united form. So as long as we're merged together like this, my strength has become yours and yours has become mine," Ava's worlds rung in her mind.

"I think I get it. So it's just like when I merge with Florian. Is the mask necessary, though? How do you even see in this?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. Think of it as part of your training~"

"Lucille, that's you, right?" Oswald blinked in surprise.

"Heh heh, could tell even with this mask on, huh?" Lucille asked. They had even noticed that Ava's voice had now mixed in with Lucille's.

"Why is your voice and Ava's voice overlapping like that?" Zen asked. "It's like what happens when you and Florian use that Union Drive of yours."

"Oh, that. Guess that's just a thing that happens with these unions." Lucille shrugged.

"That doesn't matter. Now, let's end this thing!" Oswald reminded them, drawing them back to the Heartless they were fighting against.

The Heartless threw out multiple large cards that were flung into the far corners of the hedge maze clearing and started firing dark lasers at the group.

"I'll take care of the lasers! I'll leave you and Gula to deal the final blow," Lucille told Oswald.

"Gotcha! Leave it to us." Oswald nodded.

With that, Lucille, using her new-found powers, jumped into the air and started to attack the cards to break them.

The Heartless tried to give chase to stop her.

"No you don't! Prism Ray!" Florian casted a seraphic arte and fired it quickly at the speeding Heartless. The beam of light shot like an arrow towards the Heartless and made impact, making it crash back down to the ground.

Zen took this chance to use his Heartless claw to pin down the Heartless firmly. As much as the Heartless tried to struggle in feeble attempts to pull and scratch the claw away, Zen's grip stood firm.

Meanwhile, Lucille managed to break all the cards that were firing the dark lasers from above. "I've got them all, now's your chance to finish it."

Getting the idea, Oswald dealt the final blow, using his Keyblade and striking it straight into the Heartless' chest, which was made much easier thanks to Zen holding the Heartless down. "It's a royal flush for you, Heartless!"

As before, the Heartless flailed but eventually the heart that was held captive was freed, and the joker Heartless slowly started to disintegrate until it faded entirely.

Lucille gently landed back down and then deactivated the union drive, allowing she and Ava to return to normal.

"That went surprisingly well considering that's the first time we did a Union Drive like that," Lucille commented.

"I imagine the foes we face in the future will be much more fierce as we ascend to the castle. So we'll have to use the Union Drive and who exactly you unite with more carefully. If you end up draining all your energy every time you use it, it could cause some internal damage to your heart," Ava warned.

Lucille agreed. "Yeah, I know that all too well from when Flo and I were in the Realm of Darkness. We'll have to use it when necessary."

"That went better than I thought it would. Perhaps we should make that a daily training exercise to increase your stamina for the Union Drive to make it last longer," Ava wondered.

Lucille paled and shivered.

"Are you okay, Lady Lucille? You turned as white as a sheet," Chi asked in concern.

"Y-yeah. I just had a chilling memory of something my Mom used to do in order to help my constitution when I was younger."

"...Oh..yes...Perhaps I should have worded that better." Ava sweat-dropped, also remembering what Lucille recalled.

"Wow, you guys were amazing! And I...literally did nothing to help," Quartz congratulated but he then sulked at his own inability to help.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I doubt that will be the last time we'll be scrappin' with a Heartless-memory or not. You'll get a chance to show what yer made of next time," Oswald tried to reassure.

"You weren't much of a fighter to begin with, you know," Zen noted.

"Meanie!" Quartz huffed.

"Zen, be nice." Gula nudged.

"Well, it's true I don't really understand my power all that well yet. I don't even know if there's a right way for me to use it." Quartz sighed.

"Well, let's not worry about that for now. We did what we needed to do. Now it's time to go and get our reward," Oswald reminded.

"That's right! The Star fragment! We need to find the Cheshire Cat! Back to the Courtroom!" Chi led the way.

As they were walking back, Quartz noted that Zen was holding on to his bandaged arm with a slightly pained look.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt your arm during that fight?" Quartz asked.

"Huh? No, I'm fine. It's just this claw. I think it's because it hasn't drawn any darkness from anywhere recently that it's starting to twitch a bit."

"...Does it have to be darkness? Because if light works too, I have tons of it to share!" Quartz smiled.

Zen blinked before giving a tiny smile. "Heh, I don't think it would appreciate light as much as I would. But...thanks for the offer. For a Nobody, you're oddly considerate of others."

"Of course! I really like people! Sure, there's some scary ones-like really scary ones. But even so, I still want to protect all the people I meet. I don't know why...that's just what I feel and want to do," Quartz tried to explain.

"You...remind me of a friend of mine. He used be a Seraph but not anymore."

"Hm? A Seraph? You mean like Florian?" Quartz tilted his head.

"Right, you've probably never met another Seraph other than Florian," Zen realized. "Forget it. I don't even know why I'm even talking to you about this. That's not like me at all."

"Or maaybe~ You're starting to warm up to me?" Quartz's eyes sparkled.

Zen's response to that was pushing Quartz away from him using his normal hand. "I'm not even going to reward that with a response, you weirdo." Zen rolled his eyes and marched ahead.

"Waaaait! Zen, come back!" Quartz quickly gave chase.

With that, they made their way back to the courtroom to reunite with Alice and to let the Queen of Hearts know that the impostor was dealt with.

* * *

Much to their surprise, they for some reason ended up back in Lotus forest rather than the courtroom itself.

"Huh? I could have sworn this was the way back. Did we make a wrong turn?" Lucille asked the others.

"No, I'm also pretty sure we came this way as well." Gula shook his head.

"What happened to the courtroom then? And the White Rabbit and the Queen?" Florian wondered.

"Oh, that was erased the moment you left to chase after the Heartless. You passed the trial that was set before you, so there was no longer necessity to keep the illusion." The Cheshire Cat's voice echoed as it answered their question.

"Hey! It's you. You said we passed, right? So that means we did what we were meant to?" Lucille asked, trying to find the Cheshire Cat.

It was then that the Cheshire Cat appeared before them, and next to the purple stripped cat was Alice herself.

"Alice? You're here too?"

"I must apologize to you all. You see...I was asked by a boy named Zero to task you a test in order to prove you were the ones he intended for the star fragment he left behind to us," Alice explained.

"So as we suspected, Zero did choose you as one of the five from Lucille's memory to entrust those fragments too, but...Why was the Cheshire Cat picked as well?" Gula wondered.

"Why indeed, I wonder. Sadly, not even we know that answer."

"Perhaps the reason why the Cheshire Cat was picked as well was because he needed two instead of one," Alice suggested.

"I see. I suppose that is a reason. It's overdoing it a little, though."

"Then...what about the Queen and the White Rabbit?" Chi wondered.

"They're no longer here. They had played their parts in the trial that was set before you, which I must confess I'm surprised you were able to work that courtroom into your favor," the Cheshire Cat answered.

"Never underestimate a Foreteller," Gula proudly declared.

Lucille wasn't sure if she liked the idea of memory versions of the people she knew getting reset just like that. There was something she wanted to know. "I've been meaning to ask...We never met a White Rabbit originally when we first visited the real Wonderland, so who implanted him there?" Lucille questioned.

"That was the boy known as Zero who created him and implanted it into the same card you used to get here."

"...You know, the fact that Zero can alter anything in my memories, even implanting ones that never existed to begin with, is a little...unsettling." Lucille grimaced.

"But he hasn't changed any of your memories, did he?" Ava asked.

Lucille shook her head. "No, I'm pretty sure everything is as I remember. I'm just saying that having the power to potentially change people's hearts through their memories unnerves me."

"Ah, I believe I should give this to you. You deserve it after what we had put you through." Alice took out the star fragment she had on her and offered it to Lucille.

"Thanks, Alice." Lucille thanked her as she took the fragment from her hands.

"We did it, Lady Lucille! We now have two of the fragments we need!"

Just as what happened with Aster, both Alice and the Cheshire Cat had started to fade.

"Alice! Cheshire Cat! You're both-!"

"It was to be expected. We knew this would be the result of giving away the star fragment." The Cheshire Cat didn't seem all that fazed despite the fact he was disappearing.

"We're not really leaving, Lucille. We are just going back to what we used to be-simple memories. So long as you never forget us, we'll always be here," Alice told her.

Lucille slowly nodded and smiled. "Right..."

With that, Alice gave a wave, sending them off with a smile as both she and the Cheshire Cat disappeared completely.

"This world feels kind of empty now that there's no one here. I suppose the world itself will reset as soon as we leave," Gula noted.

Oswald took out the piece that was in his bag and turned to Lucille's own fragment.

"Let's see what happens when we try to put them together."

Lucille nodded and gave the other fragment to Oswald, who then carefully and slowly put the two pieces together. It gave off a blinding light that engulfed everyone in the room. It almost felt like they were taken away to somewhere else by some invisible force.

* * *

 _When Lucille opened her eyes, she found herself outside Oblivion Castle for some reason._

 _"What the? Hey what just happen-guys?" Lucille turned to ask the others only to find everyone was gone. "Where did everyone go?! Hey, is there anyone here?" Lucille called out, but there was no response._

 _When she looked down at herself she realized that her body was transparent. "I'm see-through?! Just what's going on?!"_

 _She finally got her answer when she saw a black coated person in front of her. They were looking up at the starry sky above, which seemed odd since Castle Oblivion always seemed to have depressingly dark skies._

 _"...Zero?" Lucille guessed who the person in the black coat was, but it was hard to tell since she had never seen Zero's true face yet._

 _The black coated person seemed transfixed on his gaze towards the stars and even the silent moon that had looked oddly more illuminating than usual. Had this person never seen a night sky before?_

 _It had then recognized that the black coated person wasn't the only one here. "Namine's here too?! Wait...what's going on?" Lucille blinked in confusion._

 _"Zero...you know we're not suppose to be out here. Marluxia and Vexen will be very mad at us." Namine turned to the black coated person._

 _As Lucille suspected it was Zero. Does that mean...she was viewing a memory of Zero's? But why?_

 _"I know. But there's no one here right now., They've all gone to that 'World that Never Was' or whatever it was called for some meeting," Zero reasoned._

 _"That's true...It's really beautiful this sky, isn't it? It's a shame that nights like these are rare." Namine smiled softly._

 _"We should do this more often. I like having these moments with you, Namine. It...helps me forget for a while."_

 _"Forget?"_

 _"Well...you know...I'm not even a Nobody like you. I'm just some failed..." Zero trailed off, not wanting to remind himself of his meaningless existence._

 _"Zero..."_

 _It was then that they saw something extraordinary, a meteor shower scattering across the starry sky._

 _"Wow! Is that what they call a Meteor shower?! I've only ever seen it through Sora's memories! They're so pretty!" Namine was animated with excitement and joy, looking at the sky._

 _"Yeah, there's so many of them! I wonder why they shoot across the sky like that? Do you think they're going somewhere important?" Zero wondered._

 _"What if one of them falls on us?" Namine asked._

 _"I'll protect you if that happens." Zero expressed a rare moment of cheerfulness that Lucille was surprised to see._

 _"Really?" Namine blinked in surprise._

 _"Well...I-okay so maybe that was out of line...Forget I said-" Zero became flustered and tried to back-pedal, but Namine shook her head._

 _"You're so honest...and sweet too," Namine gently teased. "Say, did you know that if you wish on a shooting star it will come true?" Namine then asked._

 _"I didn't...Do you really think they have that kind of power to grant any wish?"_

 _"Who knows? I like to think they do." Namine smiled kindly._

 _"..."_

 _"I'm going to go back inside. I have a feeling Marluxia and the others stationed at the castle will be returning soon. You should do the same. I don't want Vexen to hurt you again," Namine told Zero._

 _"I won't be too long. Don't worry about me. I'll come see you when...the 'tests' are done."_

 _Namine nodded, understanding what Zero meant, and walked back to the castle._

 _Zero then turned back to the sky to look at the ongoing meteor shower. "The power to grant wishes, huh? If only that was true, but I suppose even the power of a star couldn't change my fate."_

 _Taking Zero and even Lucille, who was a spectator to Zero's memory, by surprise, they jumped in fright when they saw something literally fall from the sky and land not too far from where Zero was._

 _"Huh? What was..." Zero slowly and very carefully moved closer to the 'object' that fell from the sky just seconds ago. It was glowing faintly like a fading light but sparkled at the same time with a pale blue light._

 _Zero bent down and hesitantly moved a hand towards the small object of light, in fear of burning himself. He only touched the fallen object for a mere five seconds before moving it away quickly. When he realized that the object was warm but not scorching despite it falling from the sky at such a quick speed, he then picked it up to look at it more carefully._

 _"Is this...one of those shooting stars from the meteor shower?! But...why did it suddenly fall from the sky like that?" Zero was confused but he looked back at the soft glow of the shooting star-or at least, what appeared to be a fragment of a star. It looked so beautiful up close._

 _"I have to show this to Namine!" Zero ran through Lucille like she was a ghost to return back into the castle. And just like that, the light engulfed her again._

* * *

"-cille! Lucille! Are you okay?! Snap out of it!" She heard Florian's panicked cries.

"Lady Lucille!" Chi cried out as well.

Lucille blinked when she found herself back on the next floor of Castle Oblivion with her friends hovering over her.

"Huh? What...what just-"

"Thank goodness! You've finally responded! You were just standing there in a trance. We were really worried about you!" Quartz hugged Lucille tightly.

Florian also sighed in relief. "What happened to you? Ava and I couldn't even get you to respond, and we didn't notice anything wrong with your heart."

"I...actually have no idea myself. I remember Oswald putting the two star fragments we had together then all of a sudden I found myself all alone in a memory that I'm sure belonged to Zero." Lucille managed to unhook Quartz from her and explained what happened from her point of view.

"You saw one of Zero's memories?" Oswald narrowed his eyes in deep thought.

Lucille nodded. "It was so weird...I think I understand now why Zero chose star fragments as a way to leave clues behind for us. It holds a special importance to him."

"So there's a link, huh? But why would he leave behind a memory of his along with the star fragment? Is he trying to tell us something?" Zen wondered.

"And for some reason, these memories only trigger for you, Lucille. I think we have to assume that the other three fragments we need will also have pieces of Zero's memory," Oswald added.

"But why just me? I was really worried something happened to all of you." Lucille looked confused.

"Who knows? Nothing in this castle makes any damn sense. The sooner we get out of this place, the better." Zen shrugged.

"I have to ask...how did we end up on this floor? Weren't we in Wonderland before?"

"Your guess is as good as ours. After that bright light, we found ourselves here too."

"I've placed them back in my bag again where they'll be safe. I say we take this moment to prepare ourselves before we go to the next floor," Oswald told the others.

 _"Lucille, take this moment to restore your strength. You did do a union drive earlier,"_ Ava suggested.

"I'll be fine, Ava," Lucille reassured before her thoughts returned to the memory she saw, and she wondered thoughtfully to herself. _'Zero...what are you trying to tell me through your memories?'_

* * *

Alright! We're finally done with this chapter! I think in future I'll avoid Wonderland since I always find that world hard to write about. Next chapter will hopefully be not as hard to write about. At least I hope not. XD

Anyways, onwards to review corner!

* * *

 **.:Review Corner:.**

 **Mysterygirl145:** Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't end there for the poor guy. =( While I can't reveal why, it does go into more detail in his secret episode that will be added during this arc after the reveal chapter is added. =3

I hope I managed to capture Marluxia's character mostly, I'll have to refresh my memory via youtube to make sure I do the character justice. =3 But yeah, Marluxia's not a nice guy. XD

And about your idea, I already have roles planned for the remaining three 'Foretellers' so that won't be possible but...I could somehow add them in KH2 somehow, we'll see. =3 Oh god I have to remember how they act and sounded like. Guess I'll have to break out the Three Caballeros DVD again if I do decide to add them. XD

I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to do so. =3

 **Ctran:** Well, until now Zen and Oswald had no idea that was possible in Castle Oblivion. XD So naturally it came more of a surprise to them than Lucille who had already experienced it once with Ava. =3

And don't worry, Riku and Mickey will have their time to shine as well, but I don't want to overuse them too much. XD I plan to make good use of DIZ too, but it won't be til later in the story. =3

 **Kaia:** LOL, I'm happy to hear that Quartz is quickly becoming a favorite. XD And yes, Quartz could probably give Demyx a run of his munny for who's the most air-headed Nobody. XD

 **Chirithy546:** I'm really happy you are enjoying the story far and I hope you continue to do so. I know right? Boys will be boys. =P And I think you could be right about Zero and Namine. =3 I know, poor Zero, I feel bad for putting him through this. You'll find as you go through the fragments of his memories that he left behind in those star fragments, that Zero is hiding something that he hasn't even told Namine yet. What secret could be?

Also yes, Marluxia is a jerk. XD

 **Guest 1 & 2:** I hope the new chapter was worth the wait. Again, sorry for it taking so long. Wonderland was pretty hard to write about. You wouldn't think it would be. XD

 **Guest 3:** While that is a good idea, I feel like the group already got their hands full with the Star Fragments so it wouldn't fit in. But I can imagine Marluxia doing something equally nefarious to them while they're in the memory worlds. Who knows, we might see some 'divine intervention' soonish. ;)

 **Haxorus knight:** Oh don't worry, Marluxia's time is coming. While we won't have a proper fight with Marluxia until later in the story, Marluxia will soon be getting a visit from a very 'upset' guardian. XD

 **Gry22:** Wow, those are a lot of ideas. XD Still going to have to figure out how to do the Days arc, but I do intend for Roxas to bump into Lucille at least some point in that story. XD Who knows maybe Xion might end up meeting her too. =P

KH2 is still some time away so I haven't planned that far yet, I've only have a mental blueprint of the main story itself. So who knows? We'll just see how Tron's world (Space Paranoids) and the worlds goes when we get to that point. =3

Also yes, I had planned for Quartz to stay with Lucille's group for now. He's going to have a bigger role when Dream Drop Distance comes around after all. =3

 **Heart:** Hmmmm...A good question indeed. ;) Who knows? Maybe DIZ will have a reaction when he sees Zen and hears what Xehanort had done to him and Ion. =P

Actually I had planned something like that for Zen in KH2, it's very much like you described it 'facing his fears' as you will, it will also be similar to the way how Riku was able to face his Darkness if you get my meaning. =3 Please look forward to it! =D

 **Visitor:** Indeed I have. In a way I'm kinda glad I'm still writing the Chain of Memory Arc because by the time KH3 comes out and I play through the story, I'll figure out how to incorporate the Radiant Series with KH3, but we're still a loooong way off yet. I'll be mad if they introduce something similar to the Seraphim (A light equivalent to the Heartless) but I don't think they will, they would have mentioned them by now or showed them in the trailers. XD

 **Guest 3, 4 & 5:** Here's the latest chapter. I hope it was worth the wait, and I'm sorry it took so long. =3

 **.: End of Review Corner:.**

* * *

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted or even read the story so far! Your support has been very encouraging and inspired me to try and do better. I hope you all continue enjoying the story as it continues. Hopefully the next chapter won't be so hard to write about, since it takes us back to our favorite 'tournament arc' world. ;)

A reminder to all the guest reviewers; thank you very much for leaving your reviews but if possible, when you leave your reviews could you make up a username of sorts so I'd be better to answer your questions more directly in future? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, it could even be just a letter or one word just something to tell the guest reviews a apart when I answer them during review corner. XD

That's pretty much it. You don't have to do it but it helps. XD Again, thank you for your reviews and excitement for the next chapter. =3

And with that, that is everything for this chapter! Please look forward to the next time (which I hope won't take as long as this one did XD) And until then, happy reading folks!

Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	6. Episode 6: Labyrinth Of Memories Part I

Heya everyone! I'm so sorry I've kept people waiting for so long. X3

Just when I thought I wouldn't get any more writer blocks, I ended up stuck halfway through Olympus Coliseum. Thankfully after some time, I managed to get it moving it again. XD

Thanks to a combination of Hyrule Warriors and Kingdom Hearts 3 for that. XD

Speaking of KH3, I hope everyone is enjoying the game! =D I'm still going through the game and loving every second of it. =3

Anyways, that said, here this Episode 6, please enjoy! =D

* * *

 **Episode 6: Labyrinth of Memories (Part I)**

* * *

The next memory world they found themselves in was recognized almost right away upon arriving.

"Hey! It's Olympus Coliseum! Maybe we'll see our friends here!" Lucille beamed.

"This was where we met the Warrior of Light, Phil and Hercules, right?" Zen recalled.

"Yup. We were helping our amnesiac friend get his orb of light back by taking part in the tournament they had going here," Oswald added.

"I wonder how they're doing back in their own world right now?" Florian wondered.

"I think it's safe to say we know who has the Star Fragment in this world already."

"Hmmm...What does this sign say? 'Welcome to the Chaos Cup,where only the strongest of warriors can compete for the chance to fight the Lord of the Underworld's Champion. A great prize will be rewarded to the champion of the Chaos Cup.' What's a Chaos Cup?" Quartz was looking at the announcement board that advertised the new cup.

"That sounds ominous to me. Didn't that Dark Knight Garland mention a being called 'Chaos' before?" Gula recalled.

"That's right, he called Chaos the 'devourer of worlds'." Ava nodded.

"Why do I get the suspicion that this has both his and Hades' dirty work involved?"

"Hey, well if it ain't the junior heroes!" Everyone turned around to see two familiar faces.

"Oh, Phil! Herc! You guys are here too?" Lucille greeted the pair.

"Well, of course. Who's gonna run the games around here if I ain't here? I'm not only the trainer of heroes, but also the guy in charge," Phil boasted.

"It's good to see you guys again. What brings you back to the Coliseum so soon?" Hercules asked them.

"So soon?" Zen repeated.

"Ah, this world was created from Lucille's memories of this place, so to these guys that memory is still fresh to them," Gula explained.

"Right..."

Both Hercules and Phil seemed confused, but Lucille quickly brushed off. "Oh, don't worry about it! So, what's going on with this 'Chaos Cup'? Did you guys know about it?" Lucille directed their attention to the board concerning the cup.

"Oh yeah—apparently, the Lord of the Underworld wanted to arrange this whole cup for something important. That enough makes me suspicious, especially after the stunt he pulled last time," Phil crossed his arms and explained.

"If I remember right, there was this strange knight called Garland who's acting as the Hades Champion."

"So that guy is involved again...I knew it," Zen grumbled.

"Unfortunately, that Garland guy is a picky fighter. He refuses to fight any champion other than some 'Warrior of Light'. He even turned down Herc! Who does that brute think he is?!" Phil sighed loudly.

"I offered to challenge him myself, but he didn't have any interest in fighting me at all," Hercules went into further detail.

"Garland does seem to have some sort of disturbing fascination with our ol' pal, Light," Oswald also noted.

"...Oh! Do you think Mr. Garland is a big fan of this Mr. Light person?" Quartz guessed innocently.

"Quartz, I know you mean well but...Garland is not a very nice person," Ava tried to explain kindly.

"I dunno, the ditz might have a point for once. Not in the way Quartz thinks, but I do think both Light and Garland have a deep history with each other. For all we know, they might have been fighting each other for longer than we think. To Garland, this is more of a duel between darkness and light than just to prove who is stronger," Zen wondered.

"Wow, Zen...that's really deep. Now that you put it that way, it does make some sense. Garland did seem to both respect and loathe Light," Lucille complimented.

"I'm impressed, Zen~ I think I'll be able to make a good Foreteller out of you yet," Gula teased.

Zen rolled his eyes at Gula's comment.

"That reminds me...Where is Mr. Light?" Florian wondered thoughtfully.

"Um, Phil? Hercules? Have you met the Warrior of Light? Do you know where he is?"

"You tell us, kid. We've never met the guy," Phil answered gruffly.

"Phil does have a point. We have been trying look around the coliseum for this warrior that Garland wants to fight, but we haven't had much luck."

"Huh, I guess they haven't met the guy yet in this world," Oswald hinted.

"No worries! We'll look for him!" Lucille offered.

"That didn't take long," Zen sarcastically noted.

"They might not remember him, but we do. It'll be easier to find him if we look ourselves," Oswald reasoned.

"I can't argue with that. I mean, he's not exactly hard to find. He's the only guy that we've seen with that blue armour and horned helmet of his," Gula agreed.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you and Ava were with us the whole time," Zen grumbled.

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing." Gula sighed.

"Anyway, I'm sure he's not too far. Let's look around," Ava changed the topic to get back to the matter at hand.

"Leave it to us, guys! We'll find him for you," Lucille reassured both Hercules and Phil.

"Thanks. If you can find him, we'd appreciate it. We'll be able to begin the games once you do," Hercules thanked.

"No problem." Lucille gave a thumbs up and winked before turning back to the others. "Alright, team, time to go find us a hero!"

"But aren't you technically Heroes? That goat man called you guys Junior Heroes," Quartz noted.

"Goat?!" Phil barked.

"It's a long story, kid. I'll fill ya in on the way," Oswald answered Quartz.

With that, the group entered inside the coliseum's gates in order to start searching for the Warrior of Light.

* * *

They looked around the lobby and checked each room in both wings for any familiar sign of their friend.

"Light~! Can you hear me? It's Lucille! We need to talk to you!" Lucille called out again only to arrive at another empty room.

"Geez, where did he go? He couldn't have just vanished!" Zen sighed loudly.

"Hmm, if I remember correctly from my days as an apprentice to Master Yen Sid, I think they have a separate area for training. I'll bet we'll find our guy there. Our pal did seem like the kind of guy who would train daily to keep his sword skills sharp," Oswald suggested.

"Oh! You mean when you slacked off from your training? I remember you mentioning it once," Florian recalled fondly.

Oswald cringed at the memory. "Florian, why did you have to remind me of that? I told you that I was young and reckless at the time!"

Gula smirked. "Look at it this way-what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?"

"Eh, that's true. I was runner up for the toughest cup goin' at the time, after all," Oswald remembered proudly.

"You still didn't beat Hercules," Zen teased.

"Those are fightin' words, kid. You'll see, I'll get my chance!" Oswald defended.

"C'mon, you two. Aren't we trying to find a certain-" Lucille broke up the conversation before it got any more heated.

"Ooh! Is that him over there?" Quartz pointed to direct the others to where he was looking. In the training grounds, they saw someone indeed practicing their swordplay. He even had the familiar blue armour and dragon-horned helmet.

"Good eye there, Quartz!" Lucille confirmed and gave a thumbs up to the Nobody. "Heeeey! Light! Long time no see~!" she then waved at the knight.

The person in question stopped mid-way through one of his sword arts and turned to recognize the people calling for him. "Ah, it is my comrades from another world." He placed his sword back into its sheathe, picking up his shield and approaching them.

"It is good to see you all again, but what brought you all back here so soon? There are also new members among your party." Although Light was still rather stiff and traditional with his conversations, it was clear that he knew who they were and he was glad to be reunited with them.

"It's a bit of a long story, but let's just say they're friends too." Lucille laughed sheepishly.

"Lady Lucille, we should tell him why we are here," Chi reminded.

"Ah, right. We actually needed to talk to you, Light. It's pretty important."

* * *

Lucille explained the whole situation with the Chaos Cup and the possibility that Garland was setting up a trap for the Warrior of Light in the guise of a tournament.

"Hmm...this does sound like something Garland would plan out. I assume he had this god 'Hades' to aid him in allowing him to compete in the games of this world." Light nodded in agreement.

"You seriously had no idea they arranged a whole cup just to lure you in? Garland was even calling you out to take part," Zen asked.

Light shook his head. "I must apologize-in my eagerness to improve myself before I would embark to search for my lost friends from my world, I had ignored most of what was going on this world."

"I'm amazed you managed to get in here without either Phil or Herc knowing," Lucille noted.

"The training grounds are free for anyone to use, so it was probably just pure dumb luck that Light kept missing out on seeing Phil or Hercules," Oswald informed her.

"But why does Garland want to fight Mr. Light so badly?" Florian wondered.

"...It is very likely he seeks to continue our cycle of conflict with each other. Garland and I have fought many times-almost like we are caught in an endless loop. Like we're always destined to fight each other," Light guessed.

"Wait! You can see Florian?" Lucille and Florian looked surprised at this.

Light blinked in confusion. "...I have noticed Sir Florian for all this time. Why do you ask?"

"I don't think he realizes he can see Seraphim so he just sees Florian as a regular kid. Just play along with it." Ava whispered.

Lucille nodded to Ava and laughed nervously when looking back at the Warrior of Light. "N-nothing serious! I was just surprised since you didn't seem to have noticed him before now. By the way, Sir Florian, eh? Suppose it's better than Lord Florian, right?" Lucille playfully nudged the smaller seraph.

"Lucille~" Florian blushed in embarrassment.

"Ah, that's right-I forgot to ask about who your new three comrades are." Light then glanced back to Ava, Gula and even Quartz.

"I am Master Ava, Sir Light. I'm-um...how do I put this?" Ava tried to think of a convincing bluff. She hated lying, but she didn't want to reveal that she was a Foreteller. Although, she doubted that the Warrior of Light would even know what that was.

"Are you perhaps a mentor to Lucille?" Light questioned.

"That's it! Precisely, Sir Light!" Ava clicked an idea into place and played along with it.

"Well...Ava is pretty much my teacher...kinda...Wow, I've only just realized that we have a really weird relationship, don't we?" Lucille added.

Ava giggled softly. "I kind of like the idea of seeing you as my own personal pupil."

"I'm Master Gula. I'm basically Zen's mentor," Gula played along with the same idea.

"Since when did you become my mentor?" Zen's eye twitched.

"Well, if you want to be really technical-" Gula started, but Zen clamped the former Leopardus Foreteller's mouth shut with his own hand.

"Forget I asked. Mentor-fine, whatever. It still creeps me out that you were lurking around in my heart for the past fifteen years." Zen added the last part lightly so Light didn't hear it.

"Oh! I'm Quartz! I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Light! Nice to meet you." Quartz brightly introduced himself.

Light blinked in surprise at the cheerful greeting. "Forgive me for asking, but why are you wearing your hood up? There's no rain."

"His hood is up? But..." Chi looked confused. All she could see was Quartz's face.

"Oh! Heh heh, it's a silly habit of mine~ Don't think too much about it." Quartz laughed softly, although there was a tinge of hurt in it.

"We should go see the owner of this Coliseum and find out more about how this Chaos Cup is being dealt with. If I know Garland, he will not make it easy."

"Right, I'll go with Light and talk to Phil. If we're lucky, we'll be able to find out more about the details on this cup. You guys stay here," Oswald told them before heading off with the Warrior of Light to search out for Phil.

Once they were out of earshot, Zen was the first to speak up. "Quartz...why doesn't Light see your face? Apparently, to Light's eyes all he can see is your hood being up. But with us..."

"I...really don't know. You guys are the first ones to ever see my real face-not even I can see it. Kinda freaky, right?" Quartz smiled sadly.

Lucille shook her head. "I don't think you're freaky, Quartz. It is odd everyone besides us only sees your hood being up, though."

"I've gotten used to it. I thought that maybe I was one of those Nobodies that doesn't have a face. You know, like a Dusk-an inferior Nobody. But when you told me that you could see that I have a face after all, I was...really happy-or I think I was. I remember inwardly feeling like I was going to burst. Is that what being happy feels like?" Quartz innocently.

Ava smiled kindly. "Close enough, Quartz. We could never think of you as inferior, though, Quartz. You have a good and kind heart. If Nobodies are capable of growing hearts after all, I think you would be a great example to them."

Quartz sniffed. "Master Ava~ Please adopt me as your pupil too~"

"If it's any consolation, you can take our word that you look like a normal human. You know, in case you were worried about what you look like," Zen added.

"Really~?" Quartz's eyes went starry-eyed with a stare of admiration towards Zen.

"...Stop that," Zen grumbled and pushed the quirky Nobody away from him.

"Zen has a special way of showing concern for others. You just got to learn to read between the lines," Lucille whispered to Quartz before winking.

"Oh...What lines in-between?"

Lucille sighed and shook her head with a smile. "Oh Quartz, what are we going to do with you?"

"Moving on to important matters-we still have this Chaos Cup to worry about. Do you think Oswald and our Warrior buddy will be able to give us a chance to compete as well? I have a feeling that the fragment we're after is going to be the prize of that tournament." Gula brought their attention back to the main problem at hand.

"But only Sir Light is the one that this memory of Garland is after. I wonder why only him? If this was meant to test us..." Chi wondered.

"Wait...didn't the last tournament have team matches last time? If this memory world is a recollection of Lucille's time in this world, it means that this Chaos Cup will also be a tournament with teams only," Gula clicked.

"Hey, that's right! So that two of us can aid Light in the Chaos Cup, just like we did back then! He lost his own memory before, after all, and we're after a fragment that has Zero's memories."

"I've gotta hand it to Zero...He's disturbingly quite crafty with his powers over your memories. It's almost like we're going back in time-only this time some events have been rearranged and altered from how we remember them," Gula commented.

"Didn't Miss Namine do that with Sora's memories too?" Florian recalled.

Gula nodded. "I'm beginning to see the meaning behind Zero's warning. There's a chance that these fake memories could accidentally imprint on your heart, replacing the original memories."

"So that's what he meant by 'Don't get lost in the memories.'" Lucille realized.

"I'm no expert, but I'm almost certain that's what happened with Sora and why his memories ended up the way they did-only at that time, that was the intent when the Organization forced Namine to mess with those original memories," Gula explained further.

"That's really bad! I don't want Lucille to lose her real memories! Are you okay, Lucille?! Do you still remember what happened before you came to the castle?!" Quartz panicked and flailed.

"Quartz, calm down!" Lucille grabbed both of Quartz's shoulders to hold him still. "Don't worry. I'm still me~ I mean, I certainly couldn't forget you or anyone here." Lucille winked.

"I think we would have been able to tell if there was a change in you, Lucille. And trust me, you're still the air-headed island girl that I've always known you as," Zen bluntly stated.

"You jerk! Did you really have to word it like that?!" Lucille bristled.

Zen smirked. "The fact that I was able to get that reaction from you tells me that you've haven't changed in the slightest."

Lucille simply pouted and puffed out her cheeks.

Florian felt something or someone was watching from afar and quickly turned to see who it was, but couldn't see anyone in the training arena.

"Flo? What's wrong?" Lucille noticed Florian was looking at something, but when she looked in the small seraph's direction, she saw no one.

"I thought...I felt another Seraph like me just now."

"Another Seraph? Here? How's that possible, Lord Florian?" Chi asked.

"I don't understand it either. Did I imagine it?" Florian wondered.

Before they could ponder this anymore, they saw a particular face that they didn't want nor hoped to see.

"Well well, if it ain't the junior runts that the old goat picked up after the last tournament. Didn't think I'd see you again so soon," Hades announced himself.

"Hades?" Lucille blinked in surprise. Why was he here and not with Garland?

"Huh, didn't expect to see your ugly mug around. And here I thought you'd let your new champion Garland do all the heavy lifting around here," Zen shot back.

"Zen! You can't just go saying that to people without a reason! That's mean!" Quartz cried out.

"Trust me, you little weirdo, this guy is bad news. He's the God of the Underworld in this world. In other words, he makes his living off claiming people's souls to fill his realm."

"Hey, what can I say? I run a tight business. Can't stay on top of my game if I don't have new suckers to add to my realm. Speaking of which, if I play my cards right with this Chaos Cup, I see nothing but good things coming my way." Hades smirked.

"What do you mean? Was this Chaos Cup really a trap after all?" Lucille became wary.

"Garland was pretty picky about the whole wanting to kill Light boy by himself in a duel between them. That's where this Chaos Cup comes into play~ Once Garland finishes off Light Boy, not only will I get that dark knight to kill Jerkules for me, I'll be able to add the Warrior of Light's soul to my collection. Having that guy under my control would secure my goal of claiming this world entirely as my own."

"So that's his plan...He's a lot more cunning than I gave him credit for," Gula noted quietly.

"Why would you tell us about it? You know we're just going to warn our friends about what you just said." Lucille was confused about why Hades would just spill his whole plan to them.

"Oh yeah...you see, you're not going to get the chance to warn anyone about what we plan to do~" The God of the Underworld teased.

"Oh yeah? Who's going to stop us?" Chi boldly questioned.

"Oh, is that my cue? And here I was expecting something more dramatic~" A familiar voice that they never expected to hear entered, phasing in and revealing himself out of thin air.

"Ratatosk?!" Florian cried out. "So I was right! I knew I sensed another Seraph!"

"I will admit…I'm pretty impressed that you were able to sense me out despite hiding in plain sight. I can see why dear ol' Yggy has a soft spot for you," Ratatosk stated.

"W-why are you here? I thought...This is a memory world. I definitely don't remember you being here," Lucille countered.

"That's true, except I'm not a memory. I'm the real thing. If I was indeed just a fake memory, the little flower boy there would have never been able to sense me. Although, even then I'm not so easily found out so quick. I can blend into my surroundings very easily, you see."

"But...how are you even here then?" Zen. "You weren't with us when we entered this memory world," Zen questioned

"Let me tell you a fun fact about myself." Ratatosk smirked. "My ability as a Seraph is known as Realm-Shifting. I'm sure your little flower boy there knows what I'm talking about."

"You're a Realm-Shifter?!" Florian gasped.

"Um...what's a Realm-Shifter? Does that mean he can world-hop too?" Quartz innocently asked.

"It's just like the name says. If what Ratatosk is saying is the truth, that means he can enter any realm he wants. The Realm of Light, the Realm of Darkness-even the Dream Realm."

"Ew! You mean he can just jump into anyone's dreams? That's so creepy!"

"You make it sound like I'm some sort of devious fiend...That's not very nice of you." Ratatosk faked his hurt. "I can't just jump into someone's memories and arrange them like that Namine girl and the boy known as Zero can. Memories in a sense are like dreams-or another form of it, rather. They're really not all that different. Even Castle Oblivion itself is trapped within an endless dream, neither being one of light nor dark. So you could say we're technically in the Dream Realm, so my realm-shift ability makes this quite an easy feat."

"Wait...so...we're dreaming right now? How can that be? We're wide awake. That makes no sense," Ava wondered.

Ratatosk simply smirked. "How do you know that you're awake? What if you are asleep right now and don't even realize it?"

"Are you trying to trick us? Because we aren't going to be deceived by some bird-beak masked-"

"Oh? But am I really lying? Think about it~ Why do you think your foreteller friends can take physical form only when you are in a memory world but as soon as you leave it, they simply disappear back into your bodies?"

"That's..." Gula struggled to counter that with an argument of his own. He loathed to admit it, but Ratatosk made a very good point. He had originally concluded that it was because both Gula and Ava were inside the hearts of their hosts the whole time they visited these worlds, but now...Ratatosk's words had brought some new yet disturbing new theories on the whole thing.

"Mortal senses are so easy to mislead and deceive. Why do you think Namine was able to mold Sora's memories so easily without much resistance? You're being tricked, and you don't even realize it," Ratatosk added.

"You lie! I don't believe for a second that Zero somehow planned all this in advance. We may have not known him for that long, but he's not that kind of a person. And don't you dare bring Namine or Sora into this! Namine wasn't the one who wanted to mess with Sora's memories-that was all on Marluxia!"

"That's right. Besides, if we were being misled all along, I would have noticed it by now. I'm a Seraph-I would have noticed it right away."

Ratatosk's smirk never left his face. "Ah, but you forget about the illusionary artes that are thickly layered all around the castle. How do you know that your own senses aren't being tricked either? You know that Seraphic Artes can work on Seraphim as well, right? Those artes were created for one sole reason alone-to keep all outsiders from getting into the true depths of this castle, even if that means tricking their own kin."

Florian's expression changed to shock when he heard this.

"..." Zen frowned. Deep down he did have his doubts about Zero but he believed Lucille's word, even though Lucille has always been a little too trusting for her own good.

"You barely even know the kid. You didn't even know he existed until he came here. Have you even seen his face? Or the better question-why hasn't he shown you his face?"

"Well...I'm sure there's a reason for-Gah! Forget this! I'm not going to play riddle games with you! C'mon, guys, we're going to go find Oswald and Light to war-" Lucille was stopped mid-sentence when Ratatosk swiftly casted a seraphic arte that made them freeze in place,

unable to move in the slightest.

"Ngh! What the-? My body-! I can't move!" Lucille tried her best to move her body but the arte had stuck them in place.

"You can use time artes, too? But how is that possible? I thought only Chrono was the only time-element Seraph we have." Florian couldn't even move to cast an arte to counter the one Ratatosk hexed them with.

"Fun fact number two: I'm a Time-Element Seraph. Yggdrasil obviously never told you about little ol' me-probably for the best I suppose. But I must say, that's news. I didn't know there was another time-elemental Seraph about. We're quite a rare breed of Seraphim, after all. Tell me…~ Where is this Chrono?"

"Why would I tell you anything?! You're against everything we've done to achieve peace and order across the worlds," Florian barked.

"If you mean killing them softly by isolating the worlds and keeping them from ever coming into contact with other words until they stagnate and die, then sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Ratatosk sarcastically mocked.

"You have no right to mess around with this world! This is one of Lucille's memories! I won't let you twist it for your own selfish ends."

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I honestly couldn't care less about this charade that you're being duped into believing. But I saw the construction that this Zero made up for you and well...it's so boring! All you do is fight a tournament, win, claim your prize and then exit the memory," Ratatosk explained.

"By the way, this is what you're after, isn't it?" Ratatosk then brought out the familiar glimmer of a Star Fragment in one of his hands.

"How did you get that?!" Zen demanded.

"Now don't think I magicked this out of thin air. I have no power over Lucille's memories. That's the boy you call Zero's whole gimmick, but...I was able to swipe this from where the goat was hiding this as the prize reward. So instead of fighting a boring old tournament, we're going to have our own little game. I even arranged a location for us. Hades, this tournament is all yours, just as we agreed on." Ratatosk glanced behind him to acknowledge the God of the Underworld.

"I barely got anything of what you and those twerps were talking about, but still, good doing business with you. I'm off to watch the events unfold. See you never, losers." Hades then puffed out in dark blue smoke as he warped away.

"Hades! Get back here, you lowlife cheater!" Lucille yelled.

"Oh, this is going to be fun~ Onwards to the Labyrinth of Memories!" With a snap of his fingers, Ratatosk teleported his captives as well as himself out of the coliseum into another place entirely.

* * *

Oswald and the Warrior of Light were trying to look for their friends, but couldn't seem to find them anywhere. They even enlisted Hercules and Phil's help, but unfortunately they were nowhere to be found.

"Geez, where could they have gone?" Oswald sighed, completely puzzled by the disappearance.

"They couldn't have vanished into thin air...you don't think...would Hades have something to do with this?" Hercules wondered.

"Pah. I wouldn't put it pass him. He probably knew he would lose the tournament if those kids were helping to fight alongside the Warrior of Light here," Phil scoffed.

"..."

"Hwahahaha...Looking for someone?" Garland's booming voice was not easy to miss as he heard him approach.

"Garland...Did you and Hades do something to our friends?" Light narrowed his eyes dangerously, but his voice remained calm nonetheless.

"If you're looking for that little girl and her friends...they're no longer in this memory world. By now, Hades, along with that mysterious masked being, has probably sent them away."

"Sent them away?! To where?" Oswald gasped.

"Pffft, suppose I might as well drop the bombshell." Hades appeared in a puff of blue smoke.

"Hades! Did you do something to Lucille and her friends? Where did you send them?" Hercules demanded.

"I didn't do a thing. It was that Rata-what's-his-name's-doing. He approached me and told me he could keep those brats out of the tournament if they decide to show up, which they did. Garland really wanted this duel with you, Light boy. I just helped to make it happen."

"Ratatosk is here?! How did he…never mind. Tell me where he sent them or I swear you'll see what happens when you mess with an angry bunny! Nobody messes with my pals and gets away with it!" Oswald summoned his keyblade and pointed it at Hades.

"Yeah, about that…they've been sent away to some place called the Labyrinth of Memories. He said it's a place where very few people ever return from. Sounds like the perfect way to get rid of some pests, especially the ones that get in my way."

"Hades, I didn't think you could sink so low." Hercules shook his head.

"Oswald...perhaps you should hurry to your friends' sides. It is my fault that this ended up happening. I will battle Garland for as long as I am able to buy you the time needed for you to return with your friends."

"But Light! You can't fight this guy on your own! We've seen how low they're willing to go just to win!" Oswald looked concerned.

"He won't fight alone. I'll help out," Hercules offered with a smile.

"I don't think Lucille or Zen would forgive me if I bailed out on ya. So I'll stick with ya and fight alongside ya. We'll show these creeps that cheating never pays."

"Oh, you plan to leave your friends to their fate? How cold," Garland mocked.

"Ha! Shows what ya know. You probably don't even understand what it means to have pals you can depend on! I know those kids. They'll get through whatever Ratatosk schemed and be back here before ya know it. I trust my pals. They'll make it back," Oswald boldly claimed.

"Hmph, such bonds are worthless," Garland scoffed before heading off to prepare for the upcoming fight.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you. I wasn't kidding about the whole 'very few people ever return' part. Those kids are never coming back, and you're going to meet the end of your journey right here-just like Jerkules will," Hades finished before following after Garland.

"Don't listen to him, Oswald. I believe Lucille and the others will make it back from this Labyrinth of Memories, too-wherever that place is."

"In all my years, I ain't never heard of a place like that. Does it even exist?" Phil wondered.

"I choose to believe in our friends, too. They're much stronger than Garland or Hades think they are."

Oswald nodded. "Yeah...They'll make it back. I know it. Right, guys?" Oswald gave a silent prayer to his friends and braced himself for what seemed like a battle of endurance between him, the Warrior of Light and Hercules against Garland. He just hoped they could hold out until Lucille and the others came back.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Castle Oblivion...

Axel was begrudgingly slowly but surely making his way up the castle one floor at a time. For some reason his ability to use the DTD was inaccessible right now, so he had to take the long way up.

"Gah! So...many...stairs...! Why...does...this...castle...have...so many...stairs?!" Axel grunted in annoyance as he finally made it to the next floor after walking what seemed like twenty flight of stairs each floor.

"Still, I can't figure it out. I've never had problems moving around the castle before now, why is this time so different?" Axel pondered, crossing his arms deep in thought. "I also still don't understand how Zero is still alive after all this time or how Marluxia has become a ghost of this place. How is that even possible?"

It was then that he noticed something in the corner of his eye. It looked like a small blue ball of light with...wings? What the hell was that thing?!

It seemed too distracted to notice the Nobody and quickly moved to a secret wall that it was able to phase through without meeting resistance.

Axel blinked in confusion and approached the wall that the small light just went through. He experimentally tried to press a hand on the surface only to find it went through the deceivingly solid looking wall.

"Is that a secret passage? Hmmm...do I trust a small flying light-bulb that could be leading me to somewhere that I can't escape but potentially could lead me to where I need to go? Or do I still climb up the castle the old fashioned way?" Axel weighed his options and after a minute decided that the former was the best choice. With that, he slipped through the wall to find himself in a dark-shrouded place, closed in by endless hallways that seemed to be a mixture of various worlds or at least the memories of those worlds all melded together in some sort of distorted picture of sorts.

When he looked behind him, he saw that the entrance he'd just come from had disappeared completely, so he couldn't go back even if he wanted too.

"...I should have just taken the stairs..." Axel sighed and face-palmed himself in his own stupidity for actually letting this happen. "Well...I'm sure there's an exit somewhere in this bizarre place."

"Waaaaahhhh!" A high-pitched scream came from the far side of the large labyrinth he had just wandered into. Did it belong to that flying light he saw? He ran towards the direction of the voice, turning corners to continue down the direction he had decided to tread.

* * *

Around this time, Lucille and her friends where roughly warped into the Labyrinth against their will by the enigmatic fallen seraph, Ratatosk.

"Yowch! He could have dropped us gently," Quartz whimpered.

"Where is this place...? Could this...be the Labyrinth of Memories?" Zen asked carefully, looking around their surroundings. It looked like the hallways were made out of various worlds or perhaps the memories of those worlds all melded into one place.

"Wait! Where's Ava and Gula? Ava! Gula! Can you hear us?" Lucille noticed the absence of their two Foreteller friends.

 _"Don't worry. We're here. We must be outside the memory world, so we've returned back into your bodies,"_ Ava answered.

"Oh good...whew, I was worried for a moment there." Lucille sighed in relief.

 _"Don't celebrate just yet. If we are outside the memory world of Olympus Coliseum, that means we must be back in Castle Oblivion and Master Oswald is still back in the coliseum. But still, I never imagined the castle would have something like this hidden within it."_

"I don't think even Namine knows...I'm sure she would have told us." Lucille shook her head. "Either way, we need to get out of this and get back to Olympus Coliseum. Oswald, Light, Hercules and Phil must be worried about where we are," Lucille reminded.

"Will Mr. Oswald be okay until we get back?" Florian asked.

"I've known that rabbit for years. He'll be able to hold his own ground for a while, but even he has limits. We should get back there as soon as possible," Zen answered.

"Absolutely. Question is...how DO we get out?" Lucille looked around their surroundings again. It had such an intimidating and ominous feeling in this place that it made her involuntarily shiver.

"Lucille? You feel it as well, don't you...? The atmosphere of this place is somber and cold-like it's more of a graveyard than an actual labyrinth." Florian turned to the brunette.

"Yeah...I don't know why I feel that way. Just what is this place?"

"Hey, where is that Ratatosk guy?" Quartz asked as he looked around for the deranged Seraph.

"I'm right here, if you're so curious." Ratatosk directed them to his direction, leaning against one of the walls of the Labyrinth that seemed to seamlessly change to different worlds constantly. It reminded Zen and Lucille of Memoria, the world of Memories that Master Matoya protects.

"Behold, this is the Labyrinth of Memories, a realm that rests between light and dark. It is a realm that is literally born from the memories of the old world, weaved together into this one labyrinth-where darkness has now taken a hold of this place-twisting and corrupting once pure memories into beings of the dark. One could say it is similar to Memoria yet it isn't. How's that for a riddle?"

"Of course he would know about that place," Zen quietly spat.

"Memoria?" Quartz looked confused, being the only one present who had never seen the world before.

"Now I won't spoil the fun of what awaits you here. That would take all the excitement out of the whole test I have for you. If you wish to leave this place, the rules are simple: Reach the center of the Labyrinth. There rests a special mirror called a 'Warp Mirror' that takes you to wherever you want to go. It's the only exit out of this place, but getting there is the tricky part. You aren't alone in this place. There are things that lurk here and I'm not talking about just Heartless."

"And what about the Star Fragment that you stole?" Florian asked.

"Oh, that little thing? I left it right next to where the mirror is. I'm not so cruel that I wouldn't leave a prize for you waiting at the end."

"Why are you doing this? What do you plan to get out of this?" Lucille questioned.

"...Why? Good question. Perhaps it's because you intrigue me-you and your brother, that is. And I wasn't lying about what I said before-you kids really are being deceived-not for any malicious reason if that's any comfort-but you might not like what you find when you discover the truth."

"Discover...the truth?" Lucille repeated looking at Florian who looked just as confused.

"Are you talking about...why Zero wanted us to find these Star Fragments?"

"You claim that you want to save this 'Zero'. Let me ask you this-What is it that Zero really wants you to do? Why set up this elaborate scheme-leaving clues to whatever secret he's hiding when he could have just told you outright? Why go about doing all this?" Ratatosk questioned.

"I never really thought about it like that. However, there must be a reason why Zero had no choice but to do things this way. And I intend to continue. I don't know why, but no matter what Zero really is, he's still my friend, just like how the people from my memories feel just as real as their real counterparts."

"But why? You know they're all fakes-just very elaborate replications born from your memories, and they'll disappear as soon as you leave that memory world with the fragment. You could break their little hearts if you wanted to and the real counterparts wouldn't even notice a thing."

"That's too horrible to think about. I would never do that! Even if they're just memories, they're a part of me too. Our memories are just as much a part of us as our hearts and bodies are. It doesn't matter if they're just figments of my memories or not."

"Interesting..." Ratatosk seemed to smile softly at this. "Well, if you're that determined to see things to the very end no matter what awaits you then you'll make it through this place without much trouble which is quite a feat. A lot of people died in this place, you know~"

"Doesn't exactly instill me with the greatest of confidence, but I'll prove to you that you're wrong! Whatever Zero is hiding that he wants us to find out, we'll find it and then we'll save him from Marluxia...well, his 'ghost' I guess would be more appropriate."

"Right...'Marluxia'..." Ratatosk smirked as if he knew something they didn't. "Let me just leave one last little fun fact. Although Illusionary artes are powerful enough to create worlds from your memory alone and figments of people you know, they don't have the power to bring someone back from the 'dead' if they did die within the grounds of the spell's radius."

"What? Wait! Are you saying the one who's going around claiming to be Marluxia isn't who he says he is?" Zen started to click the pieces in place.

"I wonder~ Or am I just toying with you? Who can say? You kids are so gullible that it's too easy to play with you a little," Ratatosk teased.

"Anyway, have fun in the labyrinth~ Don't forget that your rabbit friend is still waiting for you, so try not to dilly-dally too long~" Ratatosk ended before disappearing.

"Wait!" Florian tried to stop him but was too late.

"Lady Lucille, this place gives me the chills. It's nothing like Memoria at all. It feels so...sad and depressing. I really don't like this place" Chi shivered. Lucille picked up her small Chirithy friend in her arms.

"Yeah, this place gives me the chills too. We need to hurry and get to this center that Ratatosk was blabbing about."

"Um...which way, though? It looks like we have right or left paths." Quartz pointed to what looked like a fork in the road.

 _"We have to pick one but how to choose?"_ Ava wondered.

Just then, Chi saw something glowing nearby. When she looked to see what it was, she noticed Quartz's crystal shard that he had tied to his hair was faintly glowing.

"Quartz! That shard you have!" Chi notified immediately.

"Hm?" Quartz blinked and glanced at the crystal shard that he had attached to his lock of hair that was longer than the rest. It was indeed glowing. "Whoa...that never happened before."

"Could it be that it's responding to help us?" Lucille wondered.

"This isn't an ordinary crystal. There seems to be some kind of sentient light within," Florian answered, sensing faintly that the crystal seemed to have a faint sign of a sentience deep under the surface.

"How can a crystal be sentient? It's just a crystal, isn't it?" Zen frowned.

 _"Actually there is one such crystal that I can think of but...that can't be...that world was had already..."_ Gula trailed off.

Quartz seemed transfixed on the crystal. He seemed to oddly jump back as if startled by something.

"Um, this is going to sound really weird but...the shard just spoke to me," Quartz told everyone.

"Huh? I didn't hear anything." Lucille looked confused.

"Me neither." Florian shook his head.

"That's...odd. I really did hear a voice from it." Quartz looked just as lost as they did but he did sound to be telling the truth.

"Alright, I'll humor you. What did the shard tell you?" Zen sighed and pressed.

"It said to 'trust in the crystal's light'. That's it," Quartz recited before beaming a smile as he finished.

"That's it? Talk about vague," Zen groaned.

"Hey, after everything we've seen, Zen? Talking crystal shards would be the least weirdest thing we've seen." Lucille gave a teasing smile.

The light that was coming from the shard seemed to indicate which path they should take, which turned out to be the left path.

"I guess it's saying we should go left," Quartz stated the obvious.

"We won't get anywhere just standing here, so I think we should follow Quartz's crystal. Oswald and the others are counting on us," Lucille told the others.

"True, suppose any guidance is better than none." Zen sighed in defeat.

"I'll do my best!" Quartz cheered as he helped to guide the way, using the shard as their compass through this somber realm.

* * *

It had felt like a few hours when it truth it had only been twenty minutes or so. But despite following the crystal's guidance, it didn't feel like they were getting anywhere closer to their goal.

"It feels like we've been walking in circles," Lucille finally admitted.

"I'm sorry. I wish I knew where this thing was guiding us," Quartz apologized.

"Don't feel bad. It's not your fault." Lucille smiled softly as she patted Quartz's back.

"Maybe this is part of the reason why people rarely escape this place. The Labyrinth seems to change constantly. It must be like Memoria, where time essentially doesn't exist at all. Or at the very least, it fluctuates at a speed much faster than our senses can keep up," Gula theorized.

Zen grimaced as he placed a hand over his bandaged arm where he could feel the heartless claw hidden within, trying to be unleashed from its bindings.

"Zen...is your arm acting up?" Lucille asked in concern.

"I'll...be fine. It wouldn't be the first time this thing tried to overwhelm me. I get the feeling, though, that Ratatosk's warning about the Heartless might have been true after all. It would never react like this if the Heartless were fabricated like the ones in the memory worlds we visited so far," Zen answered.

"Y-you mean...there's real Heartless lurking here?" Chi gripped onto Lucille's arms in fear.

Zen nodded. "Better keep our guard up. We could get ambushed out of nowhere if we're not careful."

Florian nodded. "Right. I can definitely feel darkness down here...it's...so vast and enormous...I'm not sure if we could fight it if we tried right now."

Just then, they heard a cry for help coming from strangely not far where they were standing.

"Did you hear that?! There's someone else here! We need to help them!" Lucille alerted. She was about to sprint after the voice until Zen pulled her back by gripping her hood.

"Whoa, whoa! Let's think about this, island girl," Zen warned. "We're in a place that is trying to trick and confuse us, and I'm not just talking about the castle itself. If this Labyrinth really is hidden within the castle itself, how do we know that this isn't a trap?"

"We'll never know unless we see for ourselves. Besides, I'd never forgive myself if I just ignored someone's cries for help," Lucille argued before charging on, followed by Chi and Florian.

"I think we should go see, too. I think we're not the only ones down here," Quartz told Zen.

Zen sighed and shook his head. They both followed after to see if there really was another person down here.

* * *

Axel found himself backed against a wall with his two fire chakrams out, facing against what looked like a giant Minotaur that was the size of a mountain. But this was no living being. This was a Heartless-a very vicious and powerful one.

"Geez, this is really not my day! Who the heck leaves a Heartless the size of a freaking skyscraper?! Just what is this place?!"

The large Minotaur Heartless stomped slowly towards their prey, letting out a low growl and their yellow eyes gleaming menacingly.

"I'm so sorry, Mister! You got into this mess because of me." The small ball of light with wings poked out of hiding behind Axel, apologizing for what was now the tenth time according to Axel's memory.

"If we somehow survive this, you owe me big time, light-bulb. I am NOT dying here before I get a heart of my own." Axel gritted his teeth and lit up his chakrams as he got ready to fight once more.

"Wait! You can't fight it! It's a very powerful and dangerous Heartless! So dangerous that the Seraphim had to lock it away in here with all the other scary Heartless!"

"THERE'S MORE OF THESE NIGHTMARE FUELED FREAKS IN HERE?!" Axel screeched.

"Oh yes, around over a hundred and fifty of them. The Seraphim knew they would be impossible to defeat on their own, so the best thing they could do was lock them away in this labyrinth," The small light answered in a very matter-of-factly manner.

"Don't say that so casually! I can't believe these things had been lurking around within this castle all this time!" Axel cried out.

"But the Labyrinth is technically a realm of its own in-between the realms of Light and Dark," the small light countered.

"Would you stop contradicting me?" Axel's eye twitched.

"Eeep! Sorry."

Just as the Minotaur Heartless was about to punch Axel, the small ball of light squeaked in fear and hid inside Axel's hood.

Before Axel could react, he saw chains of light appear out of nowhere and wrap themselves around the giant Heartless, making it squirm and more enraged as it tried to break free.

That was when Axel saw the familiar faces that ran over to help.

"Wait...you're that Axel guy, aren't you? What are you doing here?" Lucille blinked in surprise.

"I could say the same thing to you, kiddo. Why are you happy-go-lucky twerps here?" Axel shrugged.

Florian was busy trying to keep the massive Heartless contained, but it was much harder than he expected.

"Lucille...I can't...keep this...thing-!" Florian could manage to say as he tried his best to keep his chains from breaking, but the Heartless was just much too powerful and after some resistance, managed to snap the chains of light, causing Florian to be thrown back harshly into a nearby wall from the recoil of his arte being repelled. However, it would seem the arte still had an effect, as the Minotaur Heartless seemed stunned by the light that the binding chains arte had emitted.

"Florian! Are you okay?" Lucille ran over to check on her small friend.

Florian nodded with a pained smile despite the recoil hurting him quite a bit. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine. I've never seen such a powerful Heartless to be able to snap off my 'Binding Chains' arte so easily before..."

Axel took this opportunity of the creature being stunned to run between its legs to where Sora's sister and...whoever she was talking to. From Axel's point of view it, looked like she was talking to no one.

The ball of light that hid in Axel's hood curiously poked out of its hiding place and floated over to Lucille.

Chi was the first to notice its presence. "This familiar presence...you're a Seraph, aren't you?" Chi guessed.

Florian snapped his head over to the tiny ball of light and, after a few seconds, he was able to confirm it. "Chi's right, you are a Seraph! I never expected to see another Seraph down here. But...you're so small..."

"Why yes, I am, but how did you know that? Oh my goodness! Is that you, Lucille? You've grown into such a lovely lady! And you seem to have gotten over your childhood illness! I'm so happy for you!"

"I-I'm sorry, do I know you? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered a small ball of light floating around on the Islands. I didn't even know we had any floating balls of light there."

"Huh? You don't remember me? It's me, Ciela! We met years ago! Do you at least remember Ven-?" The ball of light with fairy-like wings was interrupted midway at the arrival of Quartz and Zen.

"Oh, there they are!" Quartz's voice was heard as both he and Zen arrived. Quartz had been keeping a firm grip on the small shard to make sure he didn't drop it. It was still glowing faintly even in the darkness.

"So there really was someone else-" Zen started to ask before he saw it was the Nobody they had fought with earlier. "Oh, it's only you."

Axel rolled his eyes. "I'm so flattered that you're concerned for me. If I had a heart, I would have been grateful," he sarcastically responded and crossed his arms.

"AHHHHHH! It's that guy in the black coat!" Quartz screamed and ran for cover behind Lucille.

"Shhhh! Keep it down, you idiot!" Axel hissed.

But it was too late. The Minotaur Heartless seemed to have very acute hearing, as its ears flicked and it turned around to face them, following the direction of the scream it heard.

"...Oops. I think I got its attention," Quartz stated the obvious.

Axel glared at the Nobody in the white coat and sighed deeply. "...Just start running," Axel simply told them as if signaled by the Minotaur's monstrous roar. Everyone started sprinting away.

"Why are we running? Couldn't we fight that thing?" Zen asked.

"You can't! That Heartless is far too powerful! Follow me! I know a shortcut to the safest place in the labyrinth!" The small ball of light who had called itself Ciela quickly took charge and guided the way.

With the giant Heartless gaining speed on them, they had no time to argue and decided to trust in Ciela.

Ciela guided them swiftly through the corridors, making sure not to lose sight of the small ball of light as they heard the loud stomping sounds of the Minotaur Heartless making its way closer to its prey. It wasn't until they came to what originally looked like a dead-end that Ciela conjured a seraphic arte over the wall that made the illusion vanish. "This way!"

They all entered inside before Ciela quickly cast another seraphic arte that made the wall from before return, blocking the Heartless from entry.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in the higher floors of Castle Oblivion, Zero was currently tied up and trying to break out of his bonds, but halted in his actions when he heard footsteps coming near. It was Marluxia.

"Even with the recall protocol in effect, you still resist. You certainly know how to get on my nerves."

"Recall protocol? Is that what you used to trap my memories? Please! Give them back to me!"

"Oh? But those memories aren't yours. They never were. They belong to someone else. You should thank me, you know. I sealed away the memories that I know would cause you more hurt than relief."

"...Who are you really? You...don't feel like the Marluxia that I remember."

"Remember? Are you saying you've gotten a few of your memories back?!"

"..." Zero seemed confused. Why was he angry that Zero was able to recall a few things now? Marluxia hadn't used the recall protocol to control him for a while now so it allowed him to remember a few things but none of them were pleasant...most of them were about being tormented by Marluxia and another Nobody, a female blond. He couldn't remember her name, though.

"Drat. I can't afford to overuse the recall protocol on you. If you end up falling apart before I can prepare everything..."

 _'Prepare? Prepare for what? And why do I feel like I should be afraid of that?'_ Zero thought to himself. But this reinforced his initial thoughts. The person that was standing in front of him was not Marluxia or even a living memory of him like everyone had thought. But...who or what was he then if not a recreation made by the illusionary artes of this castle?

"You better not move from that spot by the time I come back. You cannot run from me, Zero. We're bound to the same fate, after all."

"Same fate?" Zero repeated, but Marluxia said nothing and walked away, leaving Zero alone in the empty room.

He sighed and took this time to recall the encounter he had that had almost caused his heart to break down like that. "I feel like I know that girl...and those people that were with her. Why...Why can't I remember something so important?" Zero shook his head. He then went into another coughing fit, lying down on his side and curling up as his body recoiled from the constant coughs.

"My body feels like...it's dying...just what's wrong with me?"

"Do you really want to know?" A new voice made Zero startle in fright and quickly sit up despite his hands still being tied. He saw a boy in a black coat with long silver hair.

"Who are-" Zero started, but the silver-haired boy approached and grabbed both of Zero's hands to start untying the knots.

"No time to explain. We need to go before that Marluxia guy comes back."

"Huh? Wait, why should I go with you? How do I know you're any better than Marluxia?"

The boy sighed. "I can't give you an answer to that but you have to trust me. I made a promise to someone important to you that I wouldn't hurt you. Besides, there's something that you still have to do, right?"

"I do?" Zero tilted his head.

"Of course, the protocol still has your memories locked away so you won't be able to remember until its been removed. There's someone I know and someone important to you as well that can help you free the memories that the protocol locked away inside you."

"Wait...Na...mi...ne. Namine! That's the one you're talking about right? I just remembered her name!"

"Huh, impressive. Even with the recall protocol activated you can still get some memories back?"

"Yeah...but they're fuzzy. I can't see them clearly but I can feel certain emotions from certain moments in my memory," Zero admitted.

The boy nodded and helped Zero up after finally undoing the rope that had bound him.

"My name is Riku, by the way. I'm a friend of the girl you met before-the one called Lucille." Riku added with a small smile at the memory of Lucille.

"Oh, the brunette one? It's strange...I swear I met her before, but I just can't remember."

"You have met her. It was before your memories were sealed by the recall protocol."

"I see...It looks like many of my most important memories are bu" Zero took a step towards Riku. "Alright...I choose to trust you, Riku. Can Namine really help return the memories that I lost?"

"You...technically didn't lose them. They're just hidden away." Riku shook his head.

"Right...of course." Zero nodded. "Its funny. I feel like I can trust you with my life, but I've never met you until now. That's so weird, but it's certainly not unpleasant. It's a warm and comforting feeling."

"...Sora..." Riku quietly whispered.

"Hm? Sora...? I think I know that name too..." Zero trailed off. That name sounded very important to him, but why?

"Anyway, let's get going. I know the way. Just stay close, okay? We can't teleport around the castle right now. Marluxia's done something to the castle to make it impossible to let anyone escape the castle, so we'll have to climb up the floors normally, " Riku told Zero.

Zero nodded earnestly. "Right!"

With that, Riku and Zero left the secluded room and trusted Riku to lead the way.

* * *

Huzzah! The chapter is done! Well part one anyway. =p

Again, I'm so sorry for the long delay. Writer blocks are awful. .

Anyways, time for the review corner to answer some long-awaited questions.

* * *

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Haxorus knight:** Ask and thou shall receive. =p Sorry it took so long though. ^^

 **Guest:** It's an interesting idea you have and I could make use of that for KH3. I'll keep it in my mind when we get to KH2. Haru's origins will get answered in that one anyway. =3

 **Heart:** You're not half-wrong. XD Phil had it that was going to be used as the reward for the Chaos Cup. But as you saw in this chapter, Ratatosk stole it and Phil's in for a nasty shock when he finds that the reward he was give isn't where he left it. XD

 **Guest 3:** I see what you mean but I'd rather not confuse the story anymore than I already have. X3

 **Gry22:** I think it might be best to keep it to only one Pooh's world. I think it was a world that was always meant for Sora so I'd like to keep it that way. =3 Never watched any the Winnie the Pooh's movies to be honest so I'm probably the worst person to ask for that. The Merlin one isn't such a bad idea though, always wondered why we haven't had a 'Sword in the Stone' world yet. ^^

 **Visitor:** Never actually seen those shows so I'd rather not add them in case I don't do them justice. I have watched Swan Princess though. ^^

As much as I really want to add Swan Princess' world, it's still not a Disney-owned property and I want to try to exclusively Disney worlds. Although I might actually consider it if there's enough demand for a Swan Princess' world and/or have Hyrule as a world (I know Zelda belongs to Nintendo but it would fit so well in the Kingdom Hearts universe same goes for Swan Princess. XD)

As for the Princess and the Frog world, I could see a way to add that in too. =3 By the time we get to that world though, we'll know who the remaining three successors are. ;)

 **Mysterygirl14** : Wow that's so cool. We have similar concepts for what Seraphim are. =D I saw Seraphim more like guardian angels or at least similar to what spiritual guardians are in fantasy-based worlds. They also act like the mirror opposites to what a Heartless is. While a Heartless is a being born from the darkness in people's hearts and lacks a heart of their own. Seraphim are the physical manifestations of a heart that is reborn in the light and what form they take is reflected on what their wish was. However, because they are essentially just hearts given form of their own they lack the ability understand of emotions and how to control them. Hence why if a Seraph lose control over the emotions of their heart and let them run rampant, it makes it easier for darkness to seep in and twist them.

I hope that makes sense and I haven't confused you. XD

 **Eye to Eye:** This is actually a pretty good idea. I'll keep it in mind as I think I have more story-related way of making it work. I mean we never knew how Sora and Riku saw that door to the realm of light open when they got stuck there. ;) For Dream Drop Distance, we'll see, still need to get there yet. =3

 **Chirithy564:** Aw thank you. =3 I thought that Ava could have a Union Drive of her own Lucille since she's basically an inseparable part of Lucille now. =3

How do the Foretellers even see in those masks? That's what I want to know. XD And the plot thickens with Zero-and is the one claiming to be the living memory of Marluxia really Marluxia or is it an imposter with an agenda of their own? =o

 **Kaia** : Thank you! I'll do my best. o7

 **Ctran03931** : Thanks. ^^ I tried my best with what I could work with in the limitations that I had put myself in. And yes, using the Union Drive can become very stressful for both the heart and body. There's only so much stress a heart can take after all. ^^ And don't worry, Quartz will definitely get a chance to shine but his origins and story won't be fully completed until Dream Drop Distance since I plan something very special for the DDD arc. =3 So Quartz will still remain a enigma for a few games yet. ^^

And who can say about Zero? =3 It won't be too long until we finally learn what it is that Zero wanted them to find out. Question is-how will they take the truth that they will learn? =3

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

* * *

I want to thank everyone who had reviewed, alerted or favorited this story during the whole time waiting for episode 6 to be finished. I hope that this episode helps to make up for the long wait. And thank you all for being so patient with me and I apologize again for the really long wait.

I hope that everyone is enjoying KH3 so far (I definitely am. X3) and I'm wondering now how the heck am I going to make a Radiant fan fic work around KH3 work? XD

Well anyway that's something for me to worry about, not you guys. XD

So until next chapter, happy reading folks! Moogle Empress out! o/


	7. Episode 7: Labyrinth of Memories Part II

Heya, everyone! I'm so sorry I've kept people waiting for so long. X3

I'm really terrible when it comes to revisiting worlds. XD This is something I've come to realize about myself. Thankfully, I have finally completed Episode 7 and it's ready to roll!

Thanks for being so patient, and I hope it was worth the wait for you guys.

Sorry if it ended up being really long. I kinda got carried away and had a lot of stuff I wanted to get done in this chapter, so we can move on with the plot. XD

Anyways, that said, here's this Episode 7, so please enjoy! =D

* * *

 **Episode 7: Labyrinth of Memories (Part II)**

* * *

They could hear the loud steps of the Minotaur Heartless as it tried to look around for its prey. Thankfully, after ten seconds they heard the footsteps moving further and further away, indicating that the Heartless had given up the hunt for them.

"Whew!" Lucille slid down to the ground in relief.

"Where are we now? Please tell me we're safe here," Chi asked.

"This is one of the safe spots of the Labyrinth. It has a seraphic ward that keeps Heartless away. We'll be safe for now. Lady Medea taught me how to spot them," Ciela told them.

"Better than nothing, I guess. We still need to find the center of this Labyrinth, though."

"I'd like to know who's bright idea it was to lock away Heartless in this place. Seems a bit counterproductive when you realize they feed on darkness," Axel commented.

"Like I said-the Labyrinth of Memories is an isolated realm in-between the realms of light and dark. I know its an strange location to lock these heartless away in, but it works. I dread to think what would happen if one of these Heartless managed to get to the realm of light," Ciela explained.

"..." Quartz seemed lost in thought throughout the entire discussion. Lucille grew curious and spoke up. "Quartz? Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry! What were we talking about? I kinda had my heads up in the clouds, heh heh..." Quartz laughed sheepishly.

"You've been quiet, which is unlike you," Lucille noted.

"Do you get the feeling that there's something...I don't know...mysterious about this place? My crystal shard hasn't stopped glowing ever since we got dropped in here. And I can't shake this feeling that we're being watched from afar. It's giving me the heebie jeebies!" Quartz looked around the labyrinth.

"Hmm...Yeah, I think I understand what you mean. There's something somber and tragic about this place-I just can't put my finger on it, though."

"Lady Lucille? I haven't heard Master Ava or Gula's voice in a while. Why are they being so quiet?" Chi asked curiously.

"I think I know why." Lucille shot a look at Axel.

"Would you stop glaring at me like I'm going to betray you as soon as your back is turned? I get it, you don't trust me-and I don't blame ya. But c'mon, give me a little credit here!"

"Well duh, you've given us no reason why we shouldn't suspect you. Your Organization chased poor Quartz over countless worlds trying to capture him." Lucille placed her hands on her hips. "And let's not forget that it was your little 'group' that tried to brainwash my twin brother! I wouldn't be surprised if this superior of yours would love the chance to unleash those terrifying Heartless we just barely escaped with our lives intact upon innocent people."

"Okay-FYI-Marluxia, Larxene and Vexen were the ones staging a coup against the Organization. I was sent to be a double-agent to take them out. You should be thanking me for indirectly saving your brother from being completely under Marluxia's control," Axel defended and reminded Lucille.

Lucille grumbled and crossed her arms. "...Fine. I suppose I do owe you for that. We're still watching you, though-any funny business and I'll slug you!"

"So feisty~ You really do remind me quite a bit of him," Axel teased with a brief flash of Sora in his mind for a second. "Relax, you and crystal boy over there are off the hook for now. We got bigger problems to worry about-like 'Mr. Lord of the Castle' that's still on the loose in the castle."

"So...you aren't going to try and kidnap me or Lucille? You'll let us go?" Quartz asked meekly.

"For now, at least until this whole mess is dealt with. Next time we meet, it'll be as enemies . Got it memorized, kid? I've still got a job to do, even if I don't like it," Axel answered.

"If you don't like it why not ask them to send someone else? They can't force you...can they?" Ciela asked.

Axel sighed and face-palmed. "Trust me, if I pulled something like that I'd earn a one-way ticket to Duskville."

"Huh?" Lucille raised an eyebrow.

"Forget it. It's a Organization thing. I don't even have a heart to worry about it, remember?"

"Your Organization sounds like a terrible group to work for. I'd run away on the first day if I was forced to do something I hated," Ciela stated bluntly.

Axel smirked at the comment. He didn't know why, but the way the fairy Seraphim said that made his lips turn upwards. Could it be that he found that funny?

"I still don't believe that Nobodies don't have hearts of their own, but we've got more things to worry about than debating philosophy."

"Philo-what?" Quartz blinked.

"Agreed. We need to get out of here as soon as possible," Zen agreed with Lucille.

"Um, Ciela...when you said Lady Medea...do you mean 'Lady Medea' of the Seraphim?" Florian asked. "I heard she disappeared around ten years ago."

"Indeed. She's the guardian of Oblivion Castle-or to be more precise-the original world that was here before Castle Oblivion."

"You sure you should be talking about this while I'm here? I'm still part of the big bad Organization," Axel mocked.

"Lady Medea's a good judge of character. She'll know if she needs to alter your memory or not," Ciela answered swiftly.

Axel blinked in shock. "She's into brainwashing people?!"

"How rude!" Ciela retorted. "She does not brainwash people. She just takes away any memories involving her so no one finds out about her, especially your Superior. She really doesn't like him. She never told me why, though," Ciela added innocently.

"Well, I guess I'd be pretty mad too if intruders kept wandering into my castle and acting like they own the place." Axel shrugged.

"Florian, do you know this 'Lady Medea'?" Lucille asked.

"Not personally, but I remember Master Unei and Lord Kuroshi talked about her a lot. She was her finest pupil when she was learning under her. She's also a close friend of Lord Yggdrasil-or at least that's what Lord Kuroshi told me," Florian explained.

"Maybe she knows what's going on with the castle and why Marluxia's memory is running amok, not to mention why I can't teleport around the place like I could before," Axel thought out loud.

"I really don't want to believe anything Ratatosk says...but he might be right on a few things." Zen crossed his arms.

"Like what?"

"Well-" Before Zen could continue, something or someone blitzed past them incredibly fast-so fast that it was a blur of blue to most of them.

It was only when that someone halted and stared straight at them that they saw who the blur was.

The person in front of them looked like a mage. They had messy black hair that had two locks of hair on the side that were long enough to fall to the sides of their shoulders with yellow cat-like eyes. They had cat ears that could be seen despite the lack of light. They must have made holes in the hat to allow the ears to be visible. They were also a bit simple with their clothes. They wore a green seraphic tunic robe that seemed slightly torn at the ends with a red scarf that was wrapped securely around their neck and covered a bit of the lower face of their face. It even had the seraphim's emblem on his robe, which gave away just what exactly they were. They even had a green wizard hat with a single white feather attached to the band. There was even a moon-shaped insignia engraved on their hat.

"Is that...another Seraph?

The person in question looked panicked when they realized they could see them and sprinted off in fear.

"Hey, wait! Come back! It's dangerous here!" Lucille and Florian were the first to run after the mysterious seraph.

"Wait! Lucille! Don't run off-we need to stick together!" Ciela warned frantically as she flew quickly behind her along with everyone else.

As they chased after the other seraph, he passed through a wall leading to a dead end path just as they approached the wall themselves. Quartz's crystal shard shone brighter than before. It caused Quartz to squeeze his eyes shut from the sudden light temporarily blinding him and everyone nearby.

When the light faded and their eyes readjusted to the light, they found themselves in awe of where they were. It was almost like a completely different world from the rest of the labyrinth.

It looked like a peaceful tranquil town with a sky that almost reminded Lucille of a new dawn with the blue and pinkish sky above them. There was even a large clock tower that towered over the town like a castle.

There was something...oddly familiar about this place. But Lucille knew she had never seen this world before...or had she in a dream somewhere? She couldn't put her finger on it.

"Ooh! What a pretty town! Look, they even have a fountain over there!" Quartz beamed excitedly.

"That's weird...I feel like I've been here before."

"You have? When?" Quartz blinked.

"You get that feeling, too? So it's not just me then," Zen admitted.

"But we've never been here before...have we? Did we go to a world like this one?" Lucille wondered out-loud.

 _"...Gula! This place-!"_ Lucille could hear Ava's shock ring through her.

 _"This is...Daybreak Town! But why is it here?"_ Gula also chimed in.

"Daybreak Town?" Zen repeated.

"Daybreak Town was where the Foretellers used to live long ago in the Age of Fairytales," Chi answered for them both.

 _"That's right. It was our home."_ Ava took this moment to appear as a ghostly figure alongside Lucille.

"Ava! Are you sure you should be out here? Axel's right there!" Lucille panicked.

 _"I don't think we can afford to hide ourselves now. Not when this world has a connection to us."_

Gula's ghostly form also appeared next to Zen. _"Agreed. I don't know how Daybreak Town ended up in this labyrinth, but I think I'm beginning to understand what this Labyrinth of Memories actually is- a graveyard for the memories left behind by those who are trapped here. I'm talking about the Heartless that the Seraphim locked away."_

 _"If that's true-"_ Ava clicked together what Gula was implying and gasped. _"One of our friends could be here!"_

Gula nodded. _"We need to check this place out. Who knows, maybe this is where we'll find the Warp Mirror."_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who are THEY?" Axel cried out in shock.

"Uhhh..." Lucille tried to think of a good excuse.

 _"We're guardian angels,"_ Gula casually bluffed.

Zen glared at Gula. "Is that really your best excuse? He's never going to buy it!" Zen hissed in a voice quiet enough that only Gula heard him.

 _"Do you want to give him a good reason why he should carry out his orders and kidnap all of us?"_ Gula countered.

"Guardian Angels, huh?" Axel raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

 _"Ah...yes! We are! So if you try anything untoward to Lucille or our friends, you'll be cursed with...um...a thousand years bad luck!"_ Ava did her best to lie, which was actually a pretty pathetic attempt.

"...Now I can see why Lucille can't lie to save her life. You're as terrible as her." Zen rolled his eyes but made sure to keep his voice low enough so Axel couldn't hear.

"You jerk! You can say what you want about me, but don't say that about Ava!" Lucille kicked him in the shins.

"Ow!"

 _"You deserved that."_ Gula snickered.

Axel had a look that clearly told them he didn't buy the story at all. "Sure. Whatever you say." Axel then shrugged and brushed it off. "I know you're lying. But I get it-I'm the enemy here-you have no reason to trust me. Especially since my orders were to capture you alive."

"..." Lucille started to feel a little guilty.

"However, I meant what I said. You're off the hook until this whole crazy adventure in this castle is over and done with. I think we've got bigger things to worry about. You know, like 'Marluxia'?"

"Um...sorry to interrupt but..." Quartz meekly spoke up. "Shouldn't we go find that Seraph? I'm worried about them being all alone in this place. Especially with those scary Heartless all over the Labyrinth."

Lucille nodded. "Quartz is right. We can't leave that Seraph alone in this terrible place. We have to find them before the Heartless do."

"But how did they get in here? The realm is closed off as far as I know and only the Elder Seraphs know about the Labyrinth. Well, besides me and Lady Medea, of course," Ciela started.

"That seraph ran away from us...I wonder why." Florian was concerned for the seraph that they saw.

"I guess we can ask when we find them. They have to be somewhere in this Daybreak Town."

"Let's not forget we need to find this mirror to get out of this nightmare of a maze," Axel reminded.

"Yes, we know. I'm pretty sure none of us want to be here any longer than needed." Zen rolled his eyes.

Quartz quietly glanced back at his crystal shard that had gone back to the faint glow it had before. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling there was more to this shard than he originally thought. 'Why did it bring us here?'

He could only ponder the possibilities as they started to explore Daybreak Town-or at least the memory of this town that had found itself in the abyss of this isolated realm.

* * *

Back at Olympus Coliseum, Oswald, Hercules and the Warrior of Light were fighting in the tournament, but, oddly enough, instead of just fighting Garland right away, they had to go through a horde of Heartless each round so far. They were now on the tenth round.

"What's the big deal? I thought we were fighting Garland, not these clowns!" Oswald grumbled, although he was starting to pant a little from the non-stop fighting.

"Hades must be trying to wear us out. I knew he wouldn't play by the rules," Hercules answered.

"Stay vigilant and have faith. We have to last until our friends return from wherever they were sent to," Light told the both of them.

"You don't need to tell me twice about that." Oswald nodded. "I just hope the kids are okay...Just where the heck did that Ratatosk guy send them?"

On the other side, Garland was not quite pleased with what was happening. "What is the meaning of this, Hades? This tournament was meant to be between myself and those fools."

"Hey, hey, don't worry. You'll get your match with light boy. I'm just trying to wear out the rabbit and Jerkules for you early, then you'll have horn boy over there all to yourself," Hades reassured.

Garland growled. "This had better not backfire-otherwise our agreement is finished. I was promised that you would give me the chance to crush the Warrior of Light, and I do not take broken promises lightly."

"Who do you think you're talking to?! I'm the Lord of the Dead!" Hades flared up before he quickly calmed down. "It's fine, it's fine. Relax, it's all going according to plan. With those twerps out of the way, there's nothing that can go wrong now."

"Humph. Let us hope that is the case. Despite the frailty of light, it is annoyingly difficult to snuff out. I will greatly enjoy that moment when I snuff out his light for good," Garland stated as he continued to keep his attention solely on the Warrior of Light himself.

* * *

Back in Daybreak Town-or rather a memory of the world before it was swallowed in darkness- Lucille and the others continued to explore the town for the elusive seraph.

"You know, I'd love to see the real Daybreak Town if it's anything like this! It's so pretty!" Quartz beamed.

 _"I'm afraid you won't get the chance. This town disappeared along with the world as Ava and I knew it when the Keyblade War happened,"_ Gula confessed.

"Awww..." Quartz pouted.

 _"Well, that's not entirely true,"_ Ava added rather quietly.

"Hm?" Lucille's interest was peaked at that comment.

 _"I'm sorry. That will stay as my secret for now, Lucille. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday,"_ Ava told her.

"If you say so...I won't pry if it's something too personal to share." Lucille shrugged. "Although, it's kinda weird to keep secrets from me since we're technically the same person now, right?" Lucille teased.

 _"Hee hee. Nice try, but I think we should work on your training with the keyblade and working on your growing abilities before we worry about such things. Besides, I'm not sure there's anything we can do now. I fulfilled my role as I was told but...no...don't worry about it. There are much more important things we need to concentrate on now than worry about what could-have-been scenarios."_

"I've been wondering, Ava...Why do you guys need successors for your roles as Foretellers? Will there be a need for new Foretellers in the future?" Florian wondered out-loud.

"A good question, Lord Florian. I understand that it was Lady Lucille's heart that salvaged you from the darkness by merging your heart with hers. But how does that acknowledge Lady Lucille as your successor? No offense, Lady Lucille," Chi also wondered curiously.

"It's cool. I'm actually a little curious about that myself. Why did you pick me, Ava?"

 _"Hmmm...It's hard to explain. I suppose it's many things. For me at least, I would like to pass on my powers and knowledge as a Foreteller to someone who will use them for the right reasons and not abuse them. I don't want to repeat the mistakes I made when I was alive. Hopefully Gula and the others would think the same."_

"You sure I'm the right person for something that important? I mean, I'm not strong like Riku or Sora. My only real talent is being resourceful from all the knowledge I picked up from reading books as a way to kill time. Heck, I was even bed-ridden for most of my childhood."

Ava smiled and placed a reassuring hand on Lucille's shoulder. Even though she was just a ghost, Lucille did feel like she could feel it. _"I told you before. There's no one else I'd rather bestow my keyblade to. Being strong or smart is helpful but that's not what's important. I believe in you-that you will succeed where we failed all those years ago. And that's the truth."_

Lucille blushed lightly from the praise. "I...Thanks, Ava. I don't know if I'm worthy of the faith that you have in me. But I'm glad that we met, even though I was still technically just born when that happened. It wasn't weird when you first met me, right?" Lucille asked.

Ava softly chuckled. "Actually, you weren't that much different from who you are now."

"Huh..." Lucille looked thoughtful at that. It was hard to imagine how her first meeting with Ava actually went. It must have been weird for Ava to suddenly see a newborn heart appear out of nowhere and start talking to her.

 _"Allow me to impart some advice that my Master once taught myself and my friends,"_ Ava then added. _"May your heart be your guiding key. It was the Master's favorite saying, but if I had to describe it, just do what your heart believes is right."_

"Hmmm...May my heart be my guiding key..." Lucille repeated. She liked how that saying sounded.

Florian seemed to have clicked an idea. "Wait! I think I know how we can track down that Seraph!" Florian excitedly stated.

"Really? How?" Quartz asked. "They could be anywhere. Do you have some kind of built-in radar for tracking down other Seraphim?"

Florian pointed to his heart. "I can sense sources of light. That includes other seraphim like me."

"Oh, that's right. You were able to tell Ratatosk was right there with us even though he hid himself."

"Wait, does that mean Florian can sniff light out like a doggy?" Quartz questioned.

"What? No! That's a creepy analogy!" Florian retorted.

"It's actually not that far from the truth. Did you know that darkness has a scent too?" Zen informed them.

"...Seriously? Ew! Gross!" Lucille looked disgusted.

"Don't give me that look! I don't know why darkness has a scent, but it does. I don't exactly enjoy it either! I just...got used to it after a while," Zen retorted.

"Ugh, I'm so glad to be just a normal human. I don't even want to know what darkness smells like." Lucille shivered.

"Trust me. You really don't," Zen agreed.

 _"I'm actually kind of curious. What kind of scents the darkness give away?"_ Gula wondered.

"Gula, don't make this more creepy than it already is," Zen groaned.

"Lord Florian? What if darknessand light have different scents. What does light usually smell like?" Chi questioned.

"Hmm...It's a little hard to explain. They can give off all kinds of scents depending on the source. I remember that the lux fragments that we found in worlds like Wonderland had a vanilla aroma while Alice's light gave off a flowery smell. I wonder if that was because she was a Princess of Heart?"

"So light smells better than darkness, huh? Go figure." Lucille shrugged.

"Like I said, its complicated. Darkness can sometimes give off misleading good smells as well-probably to lure people into darkness." Florian shook his head.

"That actually wouldn't surprise me. There have been times in the past that I smelled scents like that. Rest assured, though, most of the time, they're pretty foul."

"How did we even get on this subject?" Lucille face-palmed.

"Yeah...this kind of got weird, didn't it? I'm sorry," Quartz apologized.

"Okay, getting back on topic here," Florian sighed loudly and decided to concentrate on what they should be doing instead of standing around talking about the kind of scents light and darkness give away. "I'll try pin-pointing their location. There's only myself and Ciela here, so it shouldn't be too hard to track down another seraph's aura."

"Okay, we're counting on you. Lead on, Puppy Flo!" Quartz joyfully cheered on.

"Please don't call me that." Florian died a little inside. Wasting no more time, he used his heightened senses as a seraphim to locate the other. It only took a few minutes for Florian to lock the signature down.

"They're inside that building right there." Florian pointed to the large clock tower in front of them.

"Wow...that's one huge clock tower. And I thought the one in Twilight was big." Lucille whistled.

"This brings back memories. I remember when Master Ava and the other Foretellers would gather there for their meetings," Chi recalled fondly.

"We should hurry. I'm worried about that seraph," Ciela told the others.

"You aren't the only one," Florian added quietly. He noticed that the seraph's light was dangerously low. Just how long had they been lost in this dreadful place?

"Ava, can you and Gula lead us?" Lucille asked the ghostly forms of Ava and Gula.

 _"Of course. We know this place like the back of our hands."_ Ava nodded.

 _"If this memory of Daybreak Town is as complete as we hope, it should still have the waterways that we can use to sneak inside, as I assume that seraph has probably bolted the front door shut,"_ Gula added.

"I feel like we're getting sidetracked." Axel sighed.

"But we have to help that poor thing. I don't know how long they had been down in this labyrinth, but it's not safe for any seraph to stay in this place for long, especially with all the Heartless around," Ciela lightly scolded.

Axel shrugged. "Might as well commit to this now. Man, this is not how I pictured my day going at all. Although, this will be one heck of a story to tell Roxas when I get back."

"Who?" Ciela curiously questioned.

"None of your business, lightbulb." Axel poked the ball of light.

With that, they followed Ava and Gula's directions as they headed towards Daybreak Town's clock tower, which seemed to be the heart of the town itself.

* * *

Meanwhile inside the clock tower itself in a room full of gears, the wizard-looking seraph paced back and forth. They paused for a moment to look at an elegantly curved foot-length mirror, but it was covered in dark tentacles and pulsed with a dark aura.

The seraph was too frightened to touch the mirror even though they knew it was the only way to escape from this scary place. That strange seraph boy wearing that bird beak mask told them so.

Every time those tentacles pulsed and moved slightly further along the mirror to cover it in its dark clutches, the seraph recoiled and moved further away from the mirror.

"What do I do...? I don't have the power to repel those things." The seraph sighed with worry, the voice distinctly boyish, revealing that the seraph was a boy. Maybe those strangers he saw in the labyrinth might have had the answers he needed, but alas, there was no way to ask now.

He had ran away from them as far as he could and locked himself inside this strange memory world that he was able to craft using the card that the masked boy gave to him when he bumped into him.

There was something about that masked boy that put him on edge but...who else could he turn to? He had been wandering this endless labyrinth with no memory of his own to fall back on. He retained his ability to communicate and knew how to speak with others, but that was as much as he knew-and, of course, his mysterious ability that he used to create this place. Everything else was a pure blank slate to him.

The mirror, however, was not part of this world's design. Originally, this was the center of the labyrinth-the only place that he could be safe from the scary monsters within the maze beyond this place. So this mirror must have been part of the labyrinth itself before he'd refashioned the center of the labyrinth into the memory world it was now.

Unfortunately, something has taken hold of the mirror-an evil and corrupting presence that made it impossible to use.

"There you are! I'm glad that we found you." A new voice made the seraph jump and quickly turn around to see it was the same group of people that he had ran away in fear from.

"You...are the same people I met back in the outer walls of the labyrinth. How did you manage to find your way to the center? More importantly...How did you get in here?! I locked the entrance!"

"You forgot to lock the backdoor, small fry. So, this really is the center of the labyrinth?" Axel looked around the place.

"...Huh...it didn't look like this when I came here last time." Ciela sounded confused.

"Are you alright, little guy? You're not hurt, are you?" Lucille bent down to his level to speak with him.

The seraph shyly looked down and shook his head.

"That's good. I'm Lucille, by the way, and this is my seraphim partner, Florian. What's your name?"

"...I...don't know. I don't have a name," the seraph sadly replied.

"You don't know? That's unheard of. Most seraphim retain their memories of their past life," Florian repeated with a confused look.

"Well...You've got one standing right in front of you. It's not like I threw my memories away on purpose. I just woke up in this scary place one day. I didn't know who I was or why I was here. I know I have powers, but...they're useless unless I'm in a memory world like this one. Then my powers take form." The boy became a little defensive.

"Hmm...That sounds like a dream-weaver. Basically, they're seraphim that can weave and create dream worlds from the memories and dreams of others and, to an extent, can control them, even in the sleeping worlds," Ciela explained.

"So they can create anything so long as they are within other people's dreams? And even the dreams of sleeping worlds too? That sounds so cool! That means you could make any dream you want! If I could control my dreams, I'd-" Quartz beamed.

"Okay Sunshine, we get it. Must be interesting to look at the world through your eyes." Axel shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. You really don't remember anything at all before coming to this Labyrinth?"

The seraph glumly shook his head again. "Nothing."

"Hmm...Well...why don't we give you a name—that is, if you don't mind us giving you a new name until you remember your old one. Everyone deserves a name that belongs to them," Lucille offered.

"Yeah, Lucille's right! Besides, it's not every day I get to see a Seraph that's around the same age as me." Florian smiled.

"Really...? But you don't know me...and I don't know you. What if you guys are just secretly working with those dark creatures that lurk the labyrinth. I...I don't believe you!"

"Dark creatures? He's talking about the Heartless right?" Lucille questioned.

"Poor thing. He must have been down here for so long. I feel awful for never noticing until now!" Ciela felt terribly guilty for never noticing the other seraph was wandering in this dangerous place all alone without a single friend to support him for this long. It was a miracle he had survived as long as he had.

"Well...I can assure you. We're not working with the Heartless-you know, those black creatures that you mentioned. We actually got brought here against our will by this really annoying seraph with a bird beak mask."

"Bird beak masked seraph? You mean Mr. Ratatosk?" The seraph quietly spoke his thoughts aloud.

"You've met Ratatosk?"

"I-No! Anyway-I don't believe you at all. There are those among you that reek in darkness. So you must be working with those...Heartless! You must be!" He had almost called them dark creatures again, but recalled what the human girl had called them earlier.

"You mean this guy? He's not with us. He's a tag-a-along that decided to blindly enter this nightmare because he was too lazy to take the stairs." Zen scoffed as he pointed to Axel.

"I really don't like you. You know that?" Axel glared at the greenette.

"Well...it's not just him. I'm sensing darkness from-" The seraph was stopped when Zen cried out in pain as something suddenly made his heartless claw become erratic.

"Zen! What's wrong?!" Lucille stood back up and ran over to her friend's side.

"Stay back!" Zen ordered loudly as he used his other arm to try and calm down his arm.

"Whoa! What's up with him?" Axel was surprised a bit by the sudden reaction.

It was then that Gula noticed that the mirror in the background of this place started to glow a menacingly evil light. _"Uh, guys...there's something very wrong about that mirror over there."_

"Master Gula is right, Lady Lucille! I'm sensing a horrible force of darkness inside that mirror!"

"But what about Zen? He needs our help!"

Zen fell to his knees and did his best to control the pain he was feeling. He went as far as to bite his lip to stop from screaming. There was something very wrong about this room. "There's...something calling out to my arm! Gah! What's happening to me...? It feels like its burning!"

Merlin's magic bandages suddenly snapped apart, revealing the heartless claw in all its horrifying glory.

 _"Zen! Even Master Merlin's magic wasn't able to keep it under control?"_ Gula started to become very worried now.

Quartz, without thinking, did the only thing he knew he could do. He hurried over and gently placed his hands over the Heartless claw, which was currently twitching wildly.

"What are you doing, stupid?! Don't touch it! Do you want your heart stolen?"

Quartz smiled sadly. "You'd never hurt me or anyone here. You're a really good person, you know? I can't stand by and watch you suffer. I might be a Nobody, but it makes my chest hurt when people are hurting or sad. So please, allow me to do this much, even if I can't take all the hurt away." With that, Quartz started to flow his light into Zen's arm.

As expected, the Heartless claw became less erratic and the pain started to ebb away into nothing.

"Quartz..." Zen stared at the Nobody, amazed at how easily Quartz's power was able to quell the claw that even he had trouble with controlling at times.

"There we go! All better~! That'll keep that meanie claw from causing any trouble for now. Let me know if it starts acting up again, okay?"

And now Quartz had gone back to his silly persona. Honestly, this Nobody was a walking puzzle box.

"T-thanks, Quartz. That power of light of yours really does come in handy for more than just random miracles, huh?"

Quartz went starry-eyed and tackled Lucille. "Lucille! Zen just thanked me! Does that mean he likes me now?!"

Lucille snickered. "Good job, Quartz. I think you've reached a new level with him."

"Yay!"

"Ugh, and any kind of respect I had for you just vanished into thin air, you little weirdo," Zen groaned in annoyance.

"...That arm...! I knew it! You're the same as the monsters! Don't come near me! I-I will get angry if you come any closer!" The seraph looked horrified and started to unknowingly back step towards the mirror that still was giving off a menacing glow.

"Hey, wait! Don't go any further near-" Zen tried to warn him.

"Please! Stay away! Don't eat me!" The green-robed seraph panicked and kept going backwards until he touched the surface of the mirror. Before anyone could react, a black tentacle wrapped itself around the seraph's body and lifted him into the air before proceeding to absorb the energy from the seraph, causing the green-garbed seraph to scream in pain. "Ahhhh!"

"Oh no!" Lucille gasped.

"We've got to help him!" Zen surged power into his claw arm. Thanks to Quartz's strange power, the heartless claw wasn't as bloodthirsty as usual, which allowed Zen more flexibility of using it in battle without worrying about a time-limit or the claw going rogue on him.

Everyone else armed themselves ready as the true form of the darkness that had possessed the mirror crawled out into the open. It looked like a terrifying hybrid between an octopus and an insect with a shelled body that protected its vulnerable head, although they could see the tell-tale signs of a heartless' glowing yellow eyes from within the safety of its shell.

"That must be the warp mirror we're looking for! Looks like we've got to fight this Heartless first before we can leave this place for good," Chi pointed out.

 _"Typical. The mirror that we need is possessed by a Heartless of all things. Just our luck,"_ Gula sarcastically noted.

 _"Lucille, Gula and I won't be able to fight, but if you need to union drive, I'm ready to help if you need me,"_ Ava told Lucille.

"No worries. Flo and I got this." Lucille glanced to Florian, who gave a quick nod in response.

"We need to help that seraph first! The Heartless will suck what remaining light he has left inside dry!" Florian was about to cast an arte directed at one of the tentacles but, Axel surprisingly reacted first.

"Hey, ugly, how about we heat things up?" Axel snapped his fingers, causing the Heartless to react violently to the flames that combusted out of nowhere, all the while flailing all of its tentacles, including the one that had the dream-weaver seraph captive.

Axel took this opportunity to then throw one of his chakrams towards the tentacle that had the seraph prisoner. The chakram cleanly cut through the tentacle, separating the seraph from the rest of the tentacle.

The green-robed seraph cried out in panic as gravity pulled him towards the ground but was swiftly caught by Axel. "Gotcha, kid. Maybe next time don't go backtracking into the jaws of a hungry Heartless, yeah?" Axel then quickly rushed back to the safety of the rest of the group.

"Well, that's my good deed. The heartless is all yours!"

"Mr. Axel, thank you." Florian thanked the red-haired Nobody gratefully. Axel didn't seem to notice until Florian recalled that Axel couldn't see Seraphim besides Ciela for some reason. Wait...how is he able to see the other seraph then?

"I bet if we break that shell, we'll expose the weak spot," Zen noted.

"Let's crack it open then." Lucille started firing ice magic at the Heartless, but it kept swatting away the icy projectiles using those tentacles.

"We need to get rid of those things first before we can even start whaling on it," Chi informed them.

"Leave it to us. Lucille, are you up for another Union Drive?"

Lucille winked. "You bet!" With that, Florian and Lucille activated their Union Drive through the seraphim pact. Once merged, Lucille jumped and used her flight abilities granted by Florian to charge towards the tentacles and started to slash each one of them using both the Lux Arma and Ava's keyblade to slice them through.

The Heartless grew them back, but with Lucille kept slicing through them every time it did. "Now! Attack while I distract it!" Lucille told the others.

Quartz conjured a large crystalized arrow of light and aimed it at the Heartless but was unable to fire it until it somehow came out of its shell.

Zen rushed in and used the Heartless claw to mimic a familiar technique he used before back in Monstro's belly. He barely dodged the tentacles that tried to catch him. Once he was close enough, he jumped on top of the Heartless right above where his upper shell was. He used his heartless claw to hook itself on the upper part of the Heartless' shell and started to pull very hard to rip it off.

The Heartless did its best to flail around to throw the attacker on top of him off while trying to get a wrap around the one who was flying around and attacking its limbs.

Eventually, one of the tentacles managed to hook itself around Lucille's leg and pulled her, putting her at a disadvantage.

"I don't think so!" Lucille didn't remain still for long and made a clean swipe using her Lux Arma to cut the tentacle that caught her leg.

Zen eventually was able to tear the shell off the Heartless, leaving its body exposed completely.

Quartz saw that as his cue and fired the arrow straight through the Heartless. It had the intended , making it stunned and squeal in pain. This made it run away into the safety of the mirror.

"It dived back into the mirror!"

"Now how are we going to chase it?"

"Maybe I can force it back out using the Lux Arma. It repels all forms of darkness, so maybe if I purify the mirror, it'll run back out."

"Wait! You can only release a heart using a keyblade, right? You're the only one who can do that right now," Zen countered.

"Let me take care of the mirror," Quartz volunteered. "I can create limitless amounts of crystallized light, right? Might as well put them to good use." Quartz then gave his usual cheerful grin.

"Alright, Zen, watch over Quartz just in case the Heartless tries to attack him," Lucille told him.

"But what about you? You'll be right in the thick of danger!"

"Don't worry, she's got me and Ava!" Florian reassured from within Lucille's body.

 _"We've weakened it enough, so one clear blow from the keyblade should be enough. Don't worry, it'll be fine,"_ Ava reassured.

 _"Zen, trust Ava. Believe me on this. She always does the right thing,"_ Gula also vouched.

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this," Zen sighed.

Lucille gave him a thumbs up before going in front of the mirror and raising the Lux Arma in front of it.

"Flo, should we use a union arte?"

 _"No, we've already used the union drive far more than usual. It'll be too risky to use a union arte right now. Maybe just trust the Lux Arma?"_ Florian informed her.

Lucille nodded and allowed the Lux Arma to do its own thing. Light radiated from the seraphic-forged blade and fired a beam of light into the warp mirror. Quartz also contributed, pouring light into the mirror from the side.

The mirror glowed brightly in a white light. They heard the faint screams of a Heartless from within.

 _"It's coming, get ready!"_ Ava signaled.

Lucille then switched out the Lux Arma for Ava's keyblade and held her ground, ready to move out of the way.

The Heartless crawled it way back out of the mirror, as if running away from the light that has engulfed his previous hideout. It saw the human girl in front of it and attempted to wrap a tentacle around her once again.

Lucille reacted quick and swiftly dodged the coming tentacle , delivering the final blow to the Heartless by stabbing in-between its eyes. _"You're free from this terrible place now. Go back where you're meant to be."_ She heard Florian's prayer to the Heartless, as it gave out its final throws of pain until a heart was finally freed from its clutches.

Ciela quickly flew towards the heart and casted a seraphic arte that encased the heart in a bubble of light. "There, it'll be safe now from the influence of darkness. I have to show this to Lady Medea. She'll know what do."

"What did you just do, Ciela? Shouldn't a heart usually go back on its own?" Lucille asked as Florian cancelled the union drive, allowing him to separate from Lucille once more.

"I think its because the Labyrinth of Memories is isolated in a realm in-between the realms of light and dark. I don't think it would be able to find its way home given the nature of this place," Florian explained.

"It is exactly as Lord Florian here says. Lady Medea always told me if I found any wayward hearts in this place, I need to keep them safe and bring them straight to her right away," Ciela confirmed.

"So that's the reason you were here? You were looking for any hearts that could have been trapped here?" Lucille questioned.

"Precisely! Lady Medea gave me this very important role. You see, the Labyrinth of Memories was the result of a difficult choice that the Seraphim were forced to make. Long ago, this used to be part of an ancient kingdom that once existed in the Era of Fairytales. It was known as Regnum Magia, the Kingdom of Magic. But a terrible accident happened that caused the kingdom to be split into two. I don't know what happened to the other half, but the Labyrinth of Memories is what remains of the half of Regnum Magia that was corrupted and twisted when it fell to darkness."

"Wow..." Lucille was awed by this.

"That's so awful. So then those wayward hearts you mentioned...were they the people of Regnum Magia that lost their hearts when the kingdom was torn in half?" Chi asked.

"Mostly, yes. The Seraphim at the time feared the influence from the Realm of Darkness would corrupt the remaining hearts that ended up trapped here and couldn't find their way out, therefore making the darkness stronger and the balance shift even further. So they were forced to make a hard decision to turn this place into a prison for the Heartless."

"What?! They just left the hearts that were still trapped here to become food for the Heartless that they throw in here?! That's horrible! How can they abandon those people?" Florian was enraged.

"Florian..." Lucille placed a gentle hand on the small seraph's shoulder.

"Not gonna lie...That's cruel," Zen admitted.

"It wasn't a decision that was made lightly. They knew that isolating the realm would mean any hearts that survived the fall would be trapped there. Perhaps that's why they left the Warp Mirror here-as a way to help those people. Do not misunderstand, though-Seraphim have a responsibility to not only maintain the balance between light and dark but to protect other worlds from the forces of darkness, so they had to prioritize the worlds that were still untouched by darkness to protect them and the mortals that live in those worlds. But that does not mean we are always right. Even we can make mistakes. This Labyrinth, for example, is proof of that."

"So Lady Medea wanted to save those lost wayward hearts that could still be around..." Lucille frowned sadly.

Ciela bobbed up and down in agreement. "Exactly."

 _"So I was right. This really is a graveyard for the memories of those who lost their hearts here, and the memories we saw engraved on the walls belonged to those people. This feels similar to Memoria in a way,"_ Gula confirmed.

"That explains why this place feels so sad...so tragic." Quartz gently fiddled with the crystal shard that was attached to a lock of his hair. "Maybe that's why the crystal reacted the way it did."

"Who can say? Thanks to you guys, you were able to save at least one heart from their endless torment. I'm sure whoever this heart belonged to is eternally grateful for what you did. I'm still amazed you won against that Heartless! Especially since the Heartless here are considered way more dangerous than the ones in the Realm of Light. You guys are incredible!"

"It certainly wasn't easy. If I'd had doubts about you saying they were stronger than the Heartless we've fought before, they're long gone now. It was even able to overpower Master Merlin's magic." Zen looked to his claw arm that was left exposed since the bandages he had were destroyed when it went wild.

"Will you be okay, Zen?" Lucille turned to the greenette.

Zen nodded. "Don't worry, Master Merlin made sure to give me extra spares just in case something like this happened. That wizard-he's always one step ahead. I'll patch it up as soon as we get back to Oswald and the others."

"Ah, that's right! They still need our help!" Lucille gasped.

"Yo, you guys might want to come over here. I think this kid is in bad shape," Axel called over to the others.

They all quickly hurried over to check on the condition of the seraph that they helped rescue.

"How is he?" Lucille looked over. The Seraph looked very weak.

"Lucille. His light is dangerously low. If we don't transfer some light into him soon, he'll die," Florian reported.

"No way...Is there anything we can do?" Lucille was at a loss of what they could do to help.

Florian offered some advice. "I should be able to transfer my own into him. We're almost the same wavelength, so he should accept it without rejection."

"You mean its like a blood transfusion?" Lucille realized. Thanks to her mother being the island doctor, she was familiar with such things.

"More or less. It also helps that my forte is healing magic, so I was kinda born for this sort of thing." Florian chuckled softly.

"Oh yeah, you were a Paopu flower originally. Those are the miracle plants that are known to cure all impurities-including expelling darkness from within-but no one remembers that part anymore," Chi recalled.

"Seriously!? You're telling me those flowers could flush out darkness by just consuming it as medicine?" Lucille's eyes widened in shock.

"Pretty much, Lady Lucille. Your home is very lucky to have such a miraculous flower as part of your world's flora," Chi bluntly answered.

"...Okay, I'm beginning to see why the flowers were so important to everyone back home that they made it island law to leave them alone."

"Oh, so you were the 'flower friend' that Lucille mentioned all those years ago! I never thought I'd meet you as a fellow Seraph! A delight to officially meet you," Ciela chirped.

"Again with that? I don't think you're lying, but I really don't remember you. Sorry," Lucille glanced at Ciela and apologized.

"Awww...You were very little, so I can't blame you for not remembering that far back. I remember you, though. I'm sure Ven would too if he saw you now. He would be so proud to see how far you've come since then," Ciela sighed sadly but then fondly chirped at the memory of their first meeting.

"Ven?" Lucille raised an eyebrow. That name oddly did ring a bell to her, but she couldn't remember when exactly she heard it.

"Can I help too?" Quartz offered.

Florian shook his head. "It'll be alright. Besides, you've already used your powers a lot today. You need to recover. I think your light would be a bit too much for him anyway. No offense."

"Oh, okay." Quartz pouted and went into a corner to sulk and draw on the ground with his finger.

"You sure you're okay to do this?" Lucille double-checked.

Florian smiled back and nodded. "I'm lucky to have someone like you as my pact partner. I can always recover what light I've lost through the pact."

Lucille returned the smile and accepted Florian's choice. "Alright. Just don't go too overboard-your own health is important too, you know."

With that, Florian transferred half of his light into the weaker seraph. Slowly but surely, the transfusion of light seemed to be having a positive effect. The seraph started to look less pale and have colour return to his face. His body even twitched a little.

"So...how come I can see this Seraph but not this Florian kid?" Axel brought up a good question that did need answering.

"That's a good question. You can even see Ciela as well. Are you just lying that you can't see Florian? Because if that's true, you're awful. Florian's got feelings too, you know."

"I swear. I didn't know you had a freaking Seraph with you when we first fought! It wasn't until that Florian kid cheated and helped you out that I figured out he was there," Axel retorted.

"As if you would play fair either," Lucille scoffed.

"I believe I can answer this. I believe Axel here does have the ability to perceive seraphim, but, unlike yours, it's underdeveloped and it might have been dormant for a very long time. I don't think he even knew he had it to begin with," Ciela reasoned.

"Interesting...so basically even though he had the ability to see Seraphim, his senses were so dull that it took being in the presence of two seraphs and a half to finally trigger it," Zen summarized.

"Did I already mention that I really don't like you, claw boy?" Axel dripped with sarcasm.

"Half?! How rude! I'm a full-fledged seraph too! J-just because I look like this and don't have a bigger form doesn't make me any less than my other kin." Ciela rattled in annoyance and then gave a loud 'hmph' at the end of her retort then rested on Lucille's shoulder. She was obviously a little sensitive about her size in comparison to other Seraphim like Florian and the one they just rescued.

"I think you've upset the lightbulb." Axel teased.

"Oh shut up." Zen scoffed, crossing his arms at Axel.

 _"We really need to work on your people skills, Zen. Don't say stuff like that to girls-that includes seraphim."_

"Don't you start, Gula. You're the freeloader here. You have no right to lecture me." Zen spat.

 _"I technically can't be a freeloader if you're the one who invited me in your heart the first place."_ Gula teased playfully.

Zen grumbled since he couldn't really counter that since it was true.

"Well, who knows? Maybe one day you'll be able to see and hear Florian for real," Lucille tried to cheer the red-haired nobody up.

"Why are you being nice with him? Did you forget that he wanted to kidnap you and walking paradox over there a little while ago?" Zen argued, glancing over to Quartz, who was still sulking in his corner.

"Even so. There's no need to pick on him. He did help save this little guy from the Heartless. So I think he does have a good heart...somewhere inside that body of his, anyway."

"Nobodies don't have hearts, remember?" Axel rolled his eyes.

"And I still think that's a huge lie. You've still got free-will of your own, right? You didn't have to save Ciela or the seraph, but you did. That means you are capable of being nice. You just don't realize it."

"You're one weird kid, you know that?" Axel shook his head, but he had a small smile appear over his lips.

"That being said, I'm still totally not forgiving you for toying with my baby twin brother yet. Double-agent or no, anyone who messes with Sora deals with me."

"You're never going to let this go, are you?"

 **"Never."** Lucille narrowed her eyes at him.

They heard the seraph below them moan in pain as he started to come around.

Florian stopped transferring his light when he realized it had given the other seraph enough to live. "He'll be alright now."

"That's good. That Heartless must have tried to devour what was left."

The seraph opened his eyes and became startled when he saw many faces looking down on him from where was resting. He quickly sat up but felt a bit woozy as he did so.

"Whoa! Take it easy there. You're still too weak to get up that quick yet," Florian told him.

"Oh...you're...what happened to me? I remember moving backwards until...the mirror! We need to get out of here! That mirror is possessed by-!"

"It's okay, calm down. We defeated it. That Heartless isn't going to harm anyone ever again. And we purified the mirror, so we can now use it to get out of here. Lucky~!" Lucille winked.

"You...defeated it?" The seraph was in awe.

"It was tough, but we managed it," Zen added.

The Seraph still seemed frightened of Zen and quickly latched onto the nearest person for protection which was Florian.

"Poor Zen..." Chi felt bad for the greenette.

"It's alright. I can't blame him for being scared of me. I'd probably feel the same if I was in his position. I was also in-directly the reason why that Heartless almost had him for a snack." Zen shook his head.

"It's alright. He won't hurt you. He's really nice. That claw isn't really a natural part of him. A bad man caused his arm to look like that a long time ago," Florian tried to reason with the green-garbed seraph.

The seraph looked carefully at Zen.

"I'm sorry that I scared you. I've been in a similar scenario like this myself so I can relate with how you're feeling."

"..." The seraph then shook his head. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I called you awful things. It was wrong of me to call you a monster without cause or reason and yet you all still saved me...I can see now that you're not a bad person at all. I overreacted and emotionally hurt you as a result."

Zen softly smiled and shook his head. "Trust me. I've been called more hurtful things by far worse people. It'll take more than that to get under my skin. Besides, you've been trapped down here for way longer than any of us. I don't blame you for jumping at everything."

The seraph smiled softly back.

"Oh, yeah! Weren't we gonna give you a name since you don't remember your real one?" Quartz popped over suddenly.

"Finally stopped sulking, huh, Sunshine?" Axel teased.

"You...still want to give me a name? Even though I was mean to all of you?"

Lucille beamed. "Of course, silly! Like we said-everyone deserves to have a name of their own. You're no different. Hmm...got to give you a good one that suits you, though."

"I..." The black-haired seraph blushed and clenched his fists as he gripped some of the fabric of his robe and looked down at the ground in shame. He was so rude to these people, but they not only saved him from his own mistake, they forgave his rudeness from earlier.

"Hmmm...you have a moon-shaped symbol on your hat. How about Moony?" Quartz suggested.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"No...just...no." Lucille face-palmed.

"Sunshine, I hate to break it to you, but that was BAD. You suck at names. Leave this to the others," Axel bluntly told him the truth.

Quartz sniffed and drew on the ground with his finger again. "You didn't have to be so brutally honest about it."

"The truth hurts sometimes, Sunshine," Axel teased.

"Oh, I've got it! How about Lumen?" Florian had an idea for a name strike him.

"Lumen?" The seraph repeated.

"It means light in another language. I can't remember where I heard it, though," Florian answered.

"Hmm...I like it. Can I be called Lumen from now on?" The seraph asked earnestly.

Lucille shrugged. "Sure. If that's the name you want to go with."

"I must ask, Lord Lumen-" Chi started before Lumen cut her off.

"Lord? Why would you call me that?"

"Oh, heh heh, it's just a formality thing. Would you prefer just Lumen?" Lucille laughed nervously.

Lumen nodded. "It sounds so stuffy. I like just being called Lumen."

"Oh...alright then. Lumen, can you tell us how Daybreak Town came to be in this Labyrinth?" Chi continued.

"You mean this world? To be honest, it wasn't part of the labyrinth itself. I was given this card that had the picture of this world on it. I got it from someone who felt the same as me, but there was something...scary about him. He wore this bird-beak mask to cover his face, but he said if I used this memory card at the center of the labyrinth, I'd find a way to escape this place."

"Ratatosk...he really did set this whole thing up." Zen growled.

"He did...?" Lumen tilted his head.

"Never mind. So you were able to recreate this world just from the memory card? That's impressive."

 _"Where did he get a memory card about Daybreak Town, though?"_ Ava wondered.

 _"Could it be that Ratatosk stole one of our own cards when he used that arte to freeze us? Or was that memory card created from his own memory of this place?"_ Gula wondered.

 _"But that would imply that he was here when-"_ Ava started but trailed off when Lumen suddenly spoke up.

"Oh! I want to give you something for saving me and for being so kind to me, even though I was mean to you at first." Lumen dug into one of the pockets of his robe and revealed the same star fragment that Ratatosk had stolen from Olympus Coliseum!

"That Ratatosk person also gave me this along with the card. He said that someone from the outside would come for the fragment and...I was secretly hoping that someone would come to save me," Lumen admitted, lightly blushing.

"You could have just asked us for help. The same seraph you met was the one who forced us here to play some twisted game of his-involving that fragment you're holding too," Lucille explained.

"I see...So he really was using me..." Lumen sighed sadly.

Lucille softly poked one of Lumen's cheeks. "That makes two of us. I swear, the next time I see that guy I'm going to wipe that stupid smirk off his face...somehow."

Lumen gave a tiny laugh. "Since this fragment really belongs to you, I'll return it in that seraph's place." Lumen handed over the fragment to Lucille.

"Thanks, little guy," Lucille thanked. "Now then, I think it's high time that all of us say goodbye to this depressing place." Lucille turned to the others.

"Oh, believe me, I've had my fill of this place ages ago. I'm never stepping foot in this hellscape place ever again." Axel was the first to agree with this notion.

"Question is: how do we use the Warp Mirror?" Chi wondered.

"Oh, it's really easy. You touch it and it'll take you to any place you want to go! Usually it would need lux to operate, but...considering how Lucille and Quartz had purified the mirror with so much light, I don't think we have to worry about the mirror losing any power for a long time," Ciela explained.

The light coming from the mirror was quite blindingly bright despite the fact that it was saturated in darkness only moments ago. "Geez, just how much light did you pump in there, kid?" Axel had to cover his eyes by placing an arm above his head as shade.

"Uh...did I overdo it? I just used as much as I could to force that Heartless out of hiding." Quartz blushed in embarrassment.

"...Wow, Quartz, you really are like a human-shaped generator of lux." Lucille grinned and patted the Nobody's back.

"Lucille, don't say it like that. You make me sound like a machine," Quartz sobbed.

"Are you alright? You don't feel weakened from using your powers too much?" Zen questioned.

"Nah, I'm fit as a fiddle. For some reason I don't get tired, even though I know I should. Maybe it's because I'm a Nobody, so I probably have, like, crazy high stamina or something." Quartz beamed and proudly puffed up his chest. "I really appreciate the thought, though. Thank you, Zen." He smiled thankfully to Zen.

Zen rolled his eyes. "You're high on something, alright-high as a kid who had too much sugar in their system."

"That's so mean~! I thought we were having a bonding moment!"

Lucille simply shook her head. Why couldn't Zen say what he really meant without ruining it a second later?

"Umm..." Lumen was unsure what to say, but thankfully Florian spoke for him, having an idea what the Dream Weaver Seraph wanted to say.

"What about Lumen, though? He should be okay for Castle Oblivion, but what about if he wants to go to the Realm of Light? He needs a vessel to be carried around in or a willing host," Florian questioned.

"I can take him to Lady Medea. She's very nice. She'd have no problem looking after Lumen and sharing her vessel with him. I'm sure she'd appreciate the company, too," Ciela offered.

"Hmm..." Lucille tried to think of a solution until Lumen spoke up.

"I don't mind staying in Castle Oblivion. I'm sure this Lady Medea is as nice as Miss Ciela said."

"Are you sure? You'd still be stuck here since Castle Oblivion is in its own bubble as well. It'll be like moving you from one cage to another," Florian asked.

Lumen shook his head. "But it's not. Because...you and everyone else will be there. Besides...this Lady Medea sounds like she's been lonely for a long time. I know how that feels. If I can make her feel better by just being by her side...then we'll be helping each other."

Ciela sniffed. "What a considerate young seraph you are."

"Anything's better than this place, right?" Axel added.

Lumen nodded. "I'd take my chances with Castle Oblivion over this place any day."

"First things first, though-we need to go back to Olympus Coliseum." Lucille picked out the Olympus Coliseum memory card from her pocket. "We've got a score to settle and friends of ours to save."

* * *

Oswald was thrown back by a fat Heartless only be to caught in mid-air by Hercules.

"Thanks. This is getting ridiculous! Just fight us already, you giant tin-can!" Oswald thanked the demi-god hero before snapping at Garland.

"Enough of this, Garland! This charade has gone on long enough! This is between you and me. So have it your way. We'll settle this right now," The Warrior of Light challenged.

"Wha?! But Light-!" Oswald tried to reason, but the Warrior of Light faced both Oswald and Hercules. "I'm thankful for you two for fighting alongside me. But this cannot go on. Even you have limits."

"There's plenty left in me. They don't call me a Hero for nothing, you know." Hercules shook his head.

"No way. I said I'm fightin', so I'm gonna fight! I'm Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! I ain't gonna lose here!" Oswald puffed his chest defiantly.

"I figured you would say that. I fear, though, that unless I give in to Garland's demands for a duel between us alone, Hades will just keep sending those dark creatures until we have no energy left."

"But-"

"Gawhaha! So you've finally decided to face me alone. Good, I've been waiting for this. I look forward to ending Cornelia's final light. With you gone, Cornelia's last hope to bring it back from the clutches of darkness will die with you. Chaos shall reign over all soon enough-one world at a time." Garland approached, with his huge sword covered in chains in hand, easily lifting it with one hand.

"Don't be so overconfident. Our friends are still with us, even if not physically. They are fighting alongside us right now in our hearts, lending their powers to ours. You truly do not understand the strength of the light in our hearts that can shine through the darkness when one heart is joined to others."

"Hmph, mere fanciful talk. Your 'friends' are far out of your reach now," Garland scoffed.

"Hmph! You obviously don't know my pals very well," Oswald countered with a smirk. "You see, they're known for making the impossible possible."

Just then, a bright portal appeared between Garland and the Warrior of Light, taking both by surprise.

From that portal came Lucille and her friends!

"Alright! We made it! Oswald, Light, Hercules! Are you guys alright? We aren't too late, are we?" Lucille was the first to ask.

Oswald beamed. "Well I'll be. I'm feeling much better now. Where the heck have ya guys been?! And...hey isn't that the Axel guy from before? And who's the little wizard guy?" Oswald asked a barrage of questions.

"We'll explain later. Right now, we've got some payback to deliver." Zen punched one fist into his heartless clawed one.

"WHAAAAT?! But-! How?! You were suppose to be banished for good! That masked little runt LIED to me! Who does that brat think he is?! I am the Lord of the Dead! No one tricks me and gets away with it!" Hades flared up.

"No wonder no one wants to go to your Underworld." Zen smirked.

"Sounds like the God of the Underworld just got outplayed in his own game. Guess you're not as good as you think you are when it comes to making deals-if you got scammed by a Seraph of all things." Lucille roasted.

"Okay, that's it! No more Mr. Nice guy! Better say your prayers to your gods! You guys are DEAD!" Hades roared and entered the arena as well. Hades' blue flame-like hair, as well as his body, turned red like his burning anger.

"Light, we'll take care of Hades. You concentrate on your fight with Garland." Lucille summoned her weapons.

Light nodded. "It's good to fight alongside you again. Do not worry about me and Garland. I do not plan to be defeated by him."

Lucille smiled. "Good to know~ Doesn't mean we can't provide support, though. Axel, Quartz-you two look after Ciela and Lumen."

"Whatever. I suppose I have nothing else better to do in this place. Fine, I'll watch over Lightbulb and little dream weaver over here."

"I wish you'd call me by name." Ciela sighed in defeat.

"Okie-dokie, Lucille!" Quartz saluted.

"Please be careful," Lumen told Florian.

Florian nodded and stood beside Lucille. "Time to settle this, Hades!"

Hades started the fight by creating a pillar of flames from his hands and fired it at Lucille, Florian and Zen.

Oswald countered this with a watera spell that combated the flames.

Using this opportunity to strike, Lucille closed in and was about to do a double flurry attack with both the Lux Arma and Ava's Keyblade, but Hades was able to catch her mid-strike.

"Oh, sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?" Hades strongly flung Lucille across the arena, sending her flying.

"Float!" Florian swiftly casted an arte to catch Lucille to lessen her impact. She reacted by twisting her body around so her feet would meet the wall behind her instead of her back. Using her feet to launch her back at Hades thanks to the float spell, she was able to deliver at least one blow to Hades.

"Ugh! You're going to regret that, small fry. How about we heat things up?" He turned both of his arms into huge pillars of flames and began to spin around, creating a dangerous circle of fire.

"Binding chains!" Florian launched out multiple paper charms before conjuring his signature seraphic arte. "Binding Chains!" Instantly two chains of light shot down and grabbed hold of Hades' arms to keep him stopped in his tracks.

"What the?! Hey! That's cheating!"

"You know all about cheating, don't you?" Zen swiftly countered, bringing out his Heartless claw in an attempt to intimidate Hades.

"Hey, what happened to your bandages?" Oswald noticed the lack of bandages covering Zen's cursed arm.

"It's...a long story. We'll tell you about it later," Lucille answered for the rabbit.

"I think Hercules should take care of Hades from here," Oswald told them.

"How's Light doing?" Lucille looked over to see the fight between Garland and the Warrior of Light play out.

The two knights clashed together in the heat of battle, their swords singing as they met with each blow.

It seemed like an equal fight between them until Garland was about to unleash a dark strike, allowing his sword to charge up in darkness. The Warrior of Light's first instinct was to dodge until he glanced out of the corner of his eye that there were people standing behind him in the viewing stands of the coliseum. If he moved, the innocent civilians watching this tournament would get hurt instead.

He raised up his shield in an attempt to deflect the blow. When Garland released it, it struck the Warrior of Light's shield, making it crack and shatter apart. Although the recoil forced the Warrior of Light off his feet, he was unharmed for the most part.

"Hmph, I know you. You could have dodged that attack easily. What prompted you to defend?" Garland scoffed then looked behind the Warrior to see the reason staring at him.

"So that's it. How disgustingly noble. It wasn't that you couldn't dodge. You chose not to-to protect these strangers that you barely even know."

"A knight defends those that can't defend themselves regardless if they are strangers or not. You know that better than anyone. You used to be a knight yourself," Light answered.

"I serve Chaos now, boy. And you shall join the rest of the people of Cornelia in the depths of darkness!" Garland raised his sword to deliver the final blow to Light.

"Light!" Lucille was about to run over to help until she noticed Light making the first move. Using his blade to deflect the blow, he allowed his sword to glow brightly before using his element of surprise to deliver the final blow to Garland.

"Gwaaah!" Garland groaned in pain as he felt the sword of light in the Warrior of Light's hand pierce through his armor and strike a non-vital part of his body.

It was enough to make Garland drop his sword and kneel in defeat, although it wasn't a lethal blow by any means. Both he and the Warrior of Light knew who was the victor now.

"You were too confident and left yourself open at the last moment. You lost, Garland. Accept your defeat," he informed the Dark Knight, pointing his blade towards Garland before sheathing it away.

"Even now you refuse to finish me off? You are a fool. I am the shadow that your light casts. I will only come back again and again until one of us falls."

"I am not so easily manipulated as you, Garland. This endless cycle between us will only be over until Chaos is gone. Until then, I will face you over and over if I must-to remind you of the man you used to be before Chaos got to you."

"Hmph, such naivety. But nevertheless, I admit defeat for now," Garland huffed. A portal of darkness appeared behind him as he slowly got up, one hand taking hold of his fallen sword and the other clutching his wound that was hidden through the cracked armor. "Do not forget, though, Warrior of Light-our fate is to fight one another until one side wins. Will it be the darkness? Or will it be light? I look forward to our next confrontation," Garland said before slowly stepping through the portal of darkness.

"Hey, get back here! You still owe me, you giant horned freak!" Hades barked at Garland.

"If I recall, that was only if we won. However, it would seem fate favours the light once again. Consider our deal annulled," Garland answered to Hades before disappearing, with the portal closing behind him.

"I don't believe this! After all the work I did to get that guy's help to deal with the annoying dolt, he bails on me! And that rotten little brat tricked me, too!"

Hercules came over and cracked his fists. "So...you're the reason why our friends were kidnapped to who knows where-because you enlisted the help of someone else to further your own goals?"

"Heh heh, hey, we can talk about this. I mean, to be fair it was that annoying bird-beak mask wearing loser who approached me first with the idea. I mean, it totally wasn't my fa-"

"Oh? Explain Garland and-what was it again?-your plan to use him to fight me if you got rid of the Warrior of Light for him?" Hercules crossed his arms.

"Uhhh...I take it you've got things covered here?" Lucille laughed nervously.

"Leave Hades to me. I know how to deal with trouble-makers like him. You guys earn a break after what he and his...'allies' put you through." Hercules grinned while flexing a muscle.

Lucille nodded. "Okay Flo, you can let go now."

Florian nodded and released his binding chain arte to free Hades. Before Hades could make a beeline to escape, Hercules managed to grab hold of him.

"Hey! Watch the toga there, Jerkules!"

"Now then," Oswald faced mainly Lucille and Zen with arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently. "WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU KIDS BEEN?! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?!" He then exploded.

Lucille laughed nervously.

"It's...a pretty long story, rabbit. You won't believe what we went through just to get back here," Zen answered.

"Is it true that it was Ratatosk who abducted you guys? How did that weirdo get into this castle?" Oswald wondered.

"Like I said, there's a lot to explain. Let's wait til we get back to Castle Oblivion. Then we can use that floor to rest up and tell the whole story there."

"Good plan. Man, I'm beat." Oswald started to feel the fatigue catching up to him now that the adrenaline of all the fighting they had done was now out of his system. "By the way, who's the little fella with the cat ears and ball of light over there?" Oswald pointed to Lumen.

"That's Lumen and Ciela. We met them while trying to find our way back here," Lucille answered.

"Sounds like you've had quite the adventure. Makes me almost jealous," Oswald huffed.

"Trust us, you do not want to go where we just escaped from." Zen shook his head.

"In case you guys have forgotten, Marluxia's lingering memory is still out there. We need to get back to the castle sooner rather than later," Axel reminded.

"Right. Zero still needs us." Lucille nodded.

"What about the Star Fragment, though?" Oswald asked.

"Got it right here." Lucille showed the Star Fragment that Lumen gave back.

"So that's where the prize for the Chaos Cup tournament went! Someone snuck in and robbed it right out of where I kept it safe. Bet it was some punk and you guys got it back, right?" Phil recognized it instantly.

"You could say that." Zen shrugged.

"Will you be leaving again so soon?" The Warrior of Light approached.

"Afraid so. This isn't goodbye, though. We'll see each other soon!" Lucille beamed.

After some final words exchanged between the Warrior of Light and Hercules, who was still keeping a firm grip on Hades to stop him from escaping, Lucille and her friends finally left the memory world of the Olympus Coliseum this time on their own terms and with their prize in hand.

They slipped back through the doorway that led them back to Castle Oblivion using the same memory card they used to get back inside, this time with Axel, Ciela and Lumen following them back into the familiar blinding white of Castle Oblivion's floors.

* * *

Elsewhere nearing their destination on the thirteenth floor, Zero continued to follow Riku, who was in front leading the way. Zero was currently lost in thoughts. He couldn't help but feel there was something incredibly important that he had to do-something before it was too late to act. No matter how hard he tried, though, the memory escaped him.

He looked out at one of the rare windows of the castle that could only been seen on this floor, gazing out to the depressing dark skies above. Out of nowhere, a shard of memory started to resurface from the back of his mind.

"...A falling star..."

"Hm? What did you say?" Riku turned looking confused.

"Ah...I think I remember something. It was a starry sky and there was a star that fell from the sky. I remember picking it up, but...I don't remember what happened after that."

"I see. Well, we're near to Namine now. She'll help you get back the memories that were locked away by the recall protocol."

"...None of this feels real. It's almost like...walking inside of a dream. Even when you're sleeping, you feel awake here." Zero spoke with such melancholy it took Riku a little by surprise.

"Zero, I know you won't remember right now, but is it possible that there's something you hadn't told Namine? I remember her saying that she knew you intended to guide Lucille and the others to the thirteenth floor to see Sora and Namine there, but she also told me that she hasn't seen you ever since that event you just mentioned before-the one where you found that falling star."

"...I...What was I doing?" Zero was puzzled by this gap in his memory. Deep down in his heart were the answers to his countless questions.

"It wasn't until I came into this fabricated world that I was able to find you. I'm surprised I was able to find you at all given how big this place is. Even Namine had to jump into this place to locate Lucille and the others, but at least its easy get inside, though. It's almost as if whoever created this giant dream-like illusion within the castle wanted people to enter it."

"Fabricated?" Zero repeated.

"This castle we're in right now-isn't the real Castle Oblivion. This is a dream-your dream-to be precise, Zero." Riku sighed as he dropped this bombshell on Zero.

"Huh?! We're inside a dream world? My dream world? Within Castle Oblivion itself? How is that even possible?" Zero gasped.

"I was hoping you'd tell me that. Namine couldn't find you in the real castle Oblivion, but somehow her powers managed to link you to this...'world within'. She thinks a Seraph was involved somehow in its creation and used the illusionary seraphic artes that are layered all over the real Castle Oblivion and created a whole new one from illusions and memories from your heart. Then they managed to trap you in here-almost like being frozen in time."

"I...I don't understand...Does that mean I'm sleeping right now? Or am I still awake? What does that make the Memory Marluxia that's haunting this place...Or could it be...? No...No, it couldn't be..." Zero started to take a few steps back, as if he was starting to remember something traumatic, and started rambling stuff that made so sense to Riku. It was also starting to creep him out a little.

"Zero?" Riku questioned as he took one hesitant step forward.

In Zero's mind, it was like something unlocked inside of him and all his memories came flooding back in a instant flood. "Ahhh...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Zero fell to his knees, clutching his head as both bitter memories and his most cherished ones mixed together, causing a headache that felt like it was splitting his mind into two frames of mind.

"Zero! What's wrong? Get a hold of yourself!" Riku rushed over and gently shook Zero's body to try and calm the hysterical replica.

By accident due to Riku shaking his shoulders, Zero's hood fell off, finally revealing the replica's face once and for all. Riku's eyes widened in shock. Even though Namine warned him of this...seeing Zero's face for himself confirmed his worst fears about what Vexen was trying to accomplish with this replica prototype before he was deemed a failure.

Zero gasped in horror and roughly pushed Riku away in his panic and quickly fixed his hood back over his head to hide his face. "Please! Don't! Don't...look at me...Don't look at me like that...I'm not him! I never will be..." He quietly whispered, but Riku could barely make out the sound of someone who was about to burst into tears.

"I...remember everything now. It seems the recall protocol's purpose wasn't just to make me more obident to the one who activates it-it had another hidden purpose too," he then added, although still sounding pained and distraught.

"Well...that's good, I guess? You got your memories back on your own at least." Riku shrugged.

"I wish I never had to remember. But...I guess...like all good dreams...they have to end one way or another." Zero made a soft laugh that had no humour behind it. With that cryptic note, Zero then got up and turned around.

"Wait! Where are you going? That's the opposite direction!" Riku demanded.

"I'm sorry, Riku. I know you and Namine have good intentions...but there's something I still need to do on my own before its too late. Before...this body that she gave to me fails on me, too-to give back to Sora what was stolen from him."

"What was stolen from Sora?" Riku repeated in confusion.

Zero turned back to Riku. Although Riku couldn't see it, he could swear Zero was giving him a sad smile behind his hidden face. "It'll be okay. I'll help you save Sora. It's...too late to save me but not for him. But I need Lucille's help for it to work. This whole plan depends on her and if she is willing to do the right thing. No matter what-I have to give back what was never mine to begin with."

Riku caught up to Zero and crossed his arms. "If this involves Lucille in any way, I have a right to know what your plan is! Besides...if you really mean what you said...then let me at least help you. You shouldn't have to struggle with this alone."

"Riku...thank you. I don't deserve your help, but I'm grateful," Zero thanked softly before staring at the door that led back down to the twelfth floor. "We need to find Lucille and the others before that imposter does."

"Imposter?" Riku repeated.

"The one pretending to be Marluxia...he...he's not Marluxia's living memory or anything of the sort...He's only pretending to be to terrorize me. He is...essentially...my nightmare incarnate."

* * *

FINALLY! I think this chapter ended up being a bit longer than I intended, but I think I managed to finish off Labyrinth of Memories/Olympus Coliseum in a complete way. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Sorry about making Olympus Coliseum more problematic than it needed. XD

I just had so many ideas that I wanted to write into the story that I ended up changing my original idea for how Olympus Coliseum was going to be-hence the Labyrinth of Memories. The name Regnum Magia will come back into play in the future KH fan fics, but chances are you might not hear it again for a while. Also, it was really the only way I could fit in Daybreak Town as one of the memory worlds they visit-just not in the way Zero intended. And there's only five star fragments, anyway, so that just leaves two left for Lucille and the gang to find, which will be in Hallow Bastion and Twilight Town, so yeah...sorry, Daybreak Town, I really wanted to do more with you. I'll definitely give you more attention next time. XD

In case anyone is curious, Regnum Magia is actually latin for Kingdom of Magic. =3 So you could say it might be important later in the timeline. XD

Alright then, now that we've gotten those two chapters done and dusted, I'd like to ask you dear readers what do you want to see for the next chapter?

Do you want a Secret Episode that involves Ciela and Ventus involving their first meeting with Lucille? I was planning to wait until Birth by Sleep to add this secret episode there and then but if people want to see it now, I can squeeze it in. XD

Or would you prefer the next chapter to move on to the next memory world, which is Hallow Bastion/Radiant Garden-and this one will be quite interesting since this one will involve Zen's memories rather than Lucille's. I know that sounds complicated since Zero created the memory card from Lucille's memory of Hallow Bastion itself, but hopefully it'll be explained better in the actual chapter itself for why that is. XD

So many ideas...so little time. =3 And now onwards to the review corner. Not as many this time around, but I think that's my fault since I uploaded the previous chapter during the lull period before new KH fan fics or current active fan fics get their own chapter updates, causing mine to fall a little faster off the first page. XD

Or at least, that's what I think happened-I don't know for sure. Maybe it was just quieter than usual at that time. Ah well, back to review corner!

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Mysterygirl145:** I know! Such a mystery! =D But as you can see it's starting to slowly reveal that there's a much deeper (and serious?) layer to what's really going on. I hope I'm pacing the story alright since I always worry that I get carried away and reveal too much. I hope I'm leaving enough breadcrumbs at least. ;)

Interesting you should mention that about if I imagine the characters with voice actors of their own. I usually let readers decide for themselves how they imagine the characters to look and sound like I really like the sound of some of your picks. =3 I never really took time to think about it, to be honest. XD I will need some time to ponder on that thought. =P

And no, the event where Lucille nearly drowned took place some years after. If I remember right from the previous fan fic, Lucille was seven when she nearly drowned. The time when they actually met (even though Lucille doesn't really remember it right now since she was so young and technically still very sick at this point) will be revealed in the secret episode. If you would like to see the secret episode next chapter, just say so. =3

If there's a big enough demand, I'll do the secret episode next. If not, it'll be the next chapter of the main story for COM.

 **Gry22:** Thanks. =3 And don't worry, I don't plan to stop now. Not when I have all these ideas for after COM. XD

As for the Jungle Book, I might make that a world we visit in KH2 (there's a lot of Disney worlds that I want to add in, but I have to be tasteful of what fits with the narrative XD) But any book counterpart like Winnie the Pooh, I think I'd avoid that and leave that as a unique aspect for Sora's journey. =3

I will make up for this with a Final Fantasy world. I promised we'd visit Cornelia, after all. XD

And I definitely plan to add characters from my two personal favorite Final Fantasies in some form in KH2. Look forward to Radiant Garden (and maybe Olympus Coliseum) in KH2~ =3

Just know that I plan to give the classic FFs as much love as modern FFs have. Damn it, Nomura, if you won't give us other FF characters and let them have their time in the spotlight, I'll add them myself. =P

I hope I managed to portray Garland and Warrior of Light okay. I'm really just going off the Dissidia counterparts and going off the story of FF1 itself. XD

 **Kaia:** Thank you! I'm also glad to hear you really like Quartz! I will admit-I didn't expect him to be a fan favorite so fast but it's a pleasant surprise, nonetheless. =3

 **Guest:** Thank you very much! It really makes me happy to know people really enjoy these stories. =3 I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and its future installments. =3

 **Guest 2:** Aw thank you. =3 I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far. I try to do the best I can with each chapter I do. I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. =D

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

I want to throw out a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted or even contributed to the views to enjoy my series so far. And thank you for being so patient with me and my lazy butt and my equally lazy muse to finally see this new chapter and onwards to the next one and future ones to come!

Muse Moogle: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Give me more kupo nuts, kupo. Zzzzzzzzzzz...

And with that my lovely readers, until next chapter, happy reading! Moogle Empress, out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	8. Secret Episode: Unbreakable Connection

Heya, everyone! How's everyone doing? =D

Well, last chapter, I gave you guys the choice of what chapter you would like to see, a secret episode or the newest chapter of the main story and nearly all of you went for the secret episode! XD

I actually had a lot of fun writing this secret episode. It might be one of my favorite secret episodes so far. ^0^

Anyways, here is the secret episode, please enjoy! =D

* * *

 **Secret Episode: An Unbreakable Connection**

* * *

Ciela was surprised after so long to meet Lucille again-in the Labyrinth of Memories of all places. It was so long ago, but she remembered the day very well. It was when things took a terrible turn back at the Land of Departure.

Ventus discovered that he was part of one of Xehanort's twisted schemes to recreate the X-blade,a supposedly legendary keyblade that could unlock the way to Kingdom Hearts by attempting to merge one heart of light and one of darkness. Hence, Ventus' heart was split into two halves. Xehanort wanted Ven to clash with his darkness counterpart Vanitas and so he brought him to where Master Eraqus lived with his two apprentices, Aqua and Terra. It was also there that Lady Medea and Ciela first met him.

Ciela and Ventus became fast friends, although at first Ventus had been almost doll-like. It always made her wonder why that was, but now that she knew, she couldn't help but feel awful for Ventus.

To learn that you were meant to be some sort of weapon and was lied to the entire time to keep the charade up as a keyblade apprentice when Master Eraqus had no intentions of ever letting Ventus leave…It was enough to shock and paralyze anyone with such a reveal. Did Lady Medea know about this from the start too? No, Ciela didn't think so. Lady Medea was always gentle to Ventus. Then again, she was like that with Terra and Aqua too. But even if she did know, Ciela knew that she wouldn't have taken such drastic measures like Master Eraqus did.

Not that she didn't understand Master Eraqus' fears about the X-blade. If such a thing was to exist once again, the worlds as they knew them would be doomed and not even the Seraphim are strong enough to quell a tide of darkness that great. That didn't justify trying to kill poor Ventus though. He was just a victim of some crazy old man's plan to recreate the Keyblade War so he could forge the X-blade and unlock the way to Kingdom Hearts.

Thankfully, Terra arrived in the nick of time to save Ventus and sent him through a portal, which Ciela followed into to keep Ven safe.

That was when they ended up in the world where they met a lively little island girl, whom, despite her condition, was quite a little firecracker even back then. That girl was Lucille. Ciela recalled the event quite fondly.

* * *

Ventus had been thrown quite unceremoniously out of the portal with Ciela following just seconds after. Ventus quickly jumped back onto his feet.

"Wait, Terra!" Ventus tried to run back into the portal, but just before he could reach it, it disappeared right in front of them.

Ventus was about to press his shoulder pad that would summon his protective armour against the void space that was covered in darkness until a dark voice that neither of them really wanted to hear spoke up.

"Going somewhere?"

Ventus gritted his teeth and turned around to face Vanitas, the masked boy, who had been causing so much trouble for him and his friends.

"You again?! Leave us alone! You've caused enough trouble for Ventus, Terra and Aqua! You were in cahoots with Master Xehanort all along, weren't you?!" Ciela snapped.

"Ciela..." Ventus was surprised. Ciela rarely ever got mad. He then snapped his head back and boldly stated,

"I'm through with you!" He then started to walk away with Ciela following diligently behind.

"Well, I'm just getting started with you. You're strong enough now to fulfill your purpose." Vanitas summoned his keyblade as he continued, "So what are you waiting for? Join with me right here and now."

Ventus stopped in his tracks but didn't turn to face Vanitas. "Become the X-blade," Vanitas added.

"Now listen here, you masked freak-!" Ciela was about to bite his head off again until Ventus spoke up.

"No. I won't do it. He told me the only way the X-blade can be forged is if you and me fight. Well, guess what? I'm not fighting."

"You used to be too broken to talk back."

Ventus then felt an incredible pain course through his head. He fell to the ground, clutching his head.

"Ven! What are you doing to him, you psycho?!" Ciela panicked.

"Just jump-starting his lost memories. Need to give him an incentive, after all."

"You're awful!" Ciela barked.

Ventus felt the pain ebb away as his forgotten memories started to click back into place, but now he wished that he never did remember them.

Just as Vanitas was about to say something else, something struck his helmet from nearby. Ventus and Ciela looked confused, blinking, when they saw what fell to the sandy beach below them. It looked like a star-shaped fruit.

"Wait...Didn't...Aqua mention these before?" Ventus vaguely recalled Aqua's words from long ago.

"Oh, that's right! Star-shaped fruit! She based the way-finders on them!" Ciela clicked.

Vanitas turned to the side to see who dared to test him and his patience. It was a small brunette girl with a tiny ponytail, wearing a flowery island dress, an unbuttoned beige short-sleeved cardigan and simple brown sandals. She must be a local of this world.

"Didn't you hear what he said, you dummy? He doesn't want to fight with you, so leave him be! If you don't leave him alone, I'll throw another Paopu Fruit at you!" The girl brashly stated with an accusing finger.

Although his helmet hid his face, if one were to peer inside, they'd find a look of annoyance plastered there.

Both Ciela and Ventus were both in-between impressed and terrified at the fact that a local of this world was standing not far from an incredibly dangerous person.

"You think that a little insignificant speck like you can get away with talking like that to me? Do you even have any idea who you are dealing with?" Vanitas turned to face the girl with a menacing aura.

"I...I don't care! I'm not afraid of you!"

"Oh? **You should be**." Vanitas started to raise his hand, holding the keyblade. Ventus saw what was happening and quickly reacted.

The girl looked tearful with fear. She clenched her eyes shut and braced herself for what was to come, but instead of feeling any pain, she heard something clashing. She opened her eyes to see that the blonde boy that the mean masked boy was picking on had a weapon similar to the masked boy, and they had clashed together.

"Leave her alone! You would attack an innocent little girl just to make a point?"

"Why do you even care? She's not one of your friends. She's just another stranger to you."

"That doesn't matter! Just like no matter what you do, I'm not going to fight you to make this...X-blade!"

"Hmph. Fine. Then I'll give you a reason to fight."

"What?!"

"Come and find me. At the one and only place to spawn the X-blade, the Keyblade Graveyard. There you're gonna see me choke the life out of Terra and Aqua."

Ventus' eyes widened in horror at this.

"Then we'll see how long you play the pacifist."

"Wait!" But it was too late. Vanitas had created a doorway to darkness and stepped right through it, the door disappearing behind him as soon as he left.

"..." Ventus frowned and dispelled his keyblade, troubled with not knowing what to do next.

"Um..." Ventus then heard a small voice from behind him and turned around. It was the little girl that recklessly gained Vanitas' ire.

"T-thank you for saving me." The girl looked down at the wooden planks below and blushed brightly as she thanked her savior.

Ventus smiled and bent down to her level. "You're not hurt, are you?" The girl quickly shook her head. "I'm glad. I also want to thank you for trying to defend me back there. But it was very reckless. That boy was dangerous-he could have hurt you very badly."

"But...He was so mean! He wanted to pick a fight with you even though you told him to leave you alone. I didn't want to just stand by and do nothing!" The girl stated.

Ventus gently ruffled her hair. "I've got to say, you're incredibly brave to stand up to him, though. Got more courage than me, which is actually pretty pathetic when you think about."

The girl shook her head. "...I was really scared. I couldn't see his face but...he still scared me."

"Um, Ven, are you sure we should be talking about this in front of her? What about the world order? We're not suppose to be talking about these things with her," Ciela whispered.

"She's only a kid. What harm is that going to do?" Ventus frowned.

"Still..."

"Ooh! What's that?! Are you a fairy? Like in the fairytale books?" The girl's eyes shined brightly.

Ciela was surprised at this. "You can see me?"

The little girl nodded with a bright smile. "So you are a fairy! So is it true that fairies can grant wishes and cast magic?"

"..."

Ventus snickered.

"Oi! Don't you dare snicker, young man!" Ciela retorted, all the while making bell sounds as she flitted around.

She looked into those big blue eyes and her resolve to bluff her way out faded into oblivion. Ciela sighed. "I'm...technically..." She continued to look into those innocent eyes and she couldn't find it in her heart to dash her child-like wonder. But she didn't want to give her false hope either.

"Well...I guess I'm a fairy...kinda...maybe...but I unfortunately can't grant wishes. I'm not that powerful. I can do magic though."

"Oh..." The girl was a little dampened, but her smile returned not long after. "It's okay. Still, to see a real fairy is awesome! I can't wait to tell Sora and Riku!" It was then that she started to feel dizzy and lose her balance.

Thankfully, Ventus was there to catch her. "Whoa! Hey, are you okay?" He then asked with worry.

"Y-yeah! I'm okay...my body's always been like this. My brother and his best friend managed to sneak me here without Mommy or Daddy knowing."

"Wait, you mean you're suppose to be at home right now? We need to get you back there then," Ventus told her.

"No! I don't wanna! I'll just end up locked up in my room again! Mommy says my body is too weak to handle going outside on my own yet, and I wanted to prove her wrong! I'm just as healthy as Sora and Riku-I know I am!" She defiantly shook her head.

"Come on now, dear. I'm sure your Mother had good reason to keep you indoors. You're not doing yourself any favors if you get sick being outside too soon. You'll make your Mommy very worried if you worsen your health," Ciela gently tried to explain.

Ventus could sympathize with the girl quite a bit. Although health was never Ventus' problem, he still felt like a prisoner in the Land of Departure before all this happened. He hated being cooped up in his tiny world, but he didn't mind it since his friends were there, but once Terra left, it became unbearable. He wanted to prove that he could handle going to other worlds just like Aqua and Terra could-that he could fight beside them as a keyblade wielder just like them. But in the end, he really wasn't ready at all. Where did things end up going so wrong?

He could probably convince her to go home but he knew that she wouldn't listen right now given how strongly she was against it. Maybe he could soften her up before trying to reason with her again...

Ciela recalled the fruit that fell on the beach below and flew down to pick it up and bring it back to the girl.

"Here, I believe this belongs to you," Ciela kindly offered.

"Oh, the Paopu fruit that I threw at that masked boy! Thank you, Miss Fairy!" The girl chirped and gratefully took the fruit from Ciela.

"What were you doing over here, anyway?" Ventus asked softly.

"Well...I wanted to pick some Paopu fruit to show Florian, and I wanted to share some with Sora and Riku as thanks for bringing me here. I should take some back for Mommy and Daddy too..."

"How many were you able to gather?" Ventus asked.

"...One..." The girl pouted. "Climbing the Paopu trees is harder than I thought. Riku makes it look so easy. It's not fair!"

Ventus smiled. "I'll help you gather some more then. My name's Ventus. Call me Ven, though."

The girl blinked before smiling brightly back. "My name's Lucille! Thank you so much for your help!"

* * *

After spending twenty minutes gathering Paopu fruit together, they ended up with at least seven of them.

"That should be enough, right?" Ventus asked.

Lucille nodded. "Hmhm! Thank you for helping. Are you new to the Islands, Ven? Even though Mommy won't let me out of the house, she's the island doctor and she knows everyone. She never talked about you, though."

Ventus looked away and scratched his head, nervously trying to think of an answer. "Well...you could say that I come from another island really far away," Ventus bluffed.

Lucille's eyes grew curious. "Really? There's other islands besides ours? I want to see them! What are they like?!"

"..."

"I'm not helping you this time. You've dug your own grave," Ciela teased playfully.

"Ciela!" Ventus panicked.

Lucille giggled at their antics. "You two are really close. Kinda like how Sora and Riku are with each other," Lucille noted.

"Oh? Who are Sora and Riku, anyway?" Ventus asked. "You mentioned them a lot."

"Sora's my twin brother, and Riku's his best friend, but he's mine too. They're my most favorite people in the whole world! Besides Mommy and Daddy-those two are my most favorite grown-ups in the whole world. But Mommy's always telling me to stay in the house until I get better and its not fair. I wanna go outside and play like the other kids too."

"Where are they anyway? I can't imagine they'd leave you alone." Ciela wondered.

Lucille shook her head. "We were together a little while ago, but then they saw one of the grown-ups arrive at the dock. I think it might have been Daddy-so they told me to stay here while they went to see who it was. They haven't come back yet."

"Sounds like they got caught. Poor Kids-I don't want to even imagine the kind of lecture they're getting right now." Ciela sweat-dropped.

Ventus smiled softly. "I see. You really like them, don't you?"

Lucille nodded. "Then you don't want to make them sad or worry about you, right? I understand how you feel, at least a little. I felt trapped where I used to live too."

"Really? But you seem to be able to go where you want to. I can't do that...Mommy says I'm still too weak." Lucille's smile faded and she gently clutched onto the paopu fruit in her hands.

"Not really. I was told all the time that I was still too young to learn about the worlds outside beyond my home. I think I probably would have ended up there forever if things hadn't changed so drastically."

"What do you mean?" Lucille asked.

"Well...some serious stuff happened. That boy you saw before-he said some scary things to me-about how my friend would be completely different once he left. The thought terrified me. So I left thinking I could handle anything that was thrown at me. So long as I was with my friends I didn't care about the consequences of my actions. It resulted in me being thrust into things that I still don't understand, and...I also ended up causing trouble and hurting my friends-something that I never wanted to do ever."

" Um...I...really don't understand a lot of the words you used."

"Oh right, sorry!" Ventus apologized. He realized he was talking about some seriously complicated stuff with a four year old!

"So...you left because...you wanted to protect the people important to you, but you think you've caused hurt for them because you ran away from home?" Lucille questioned.

Ventus nodded. "That's why I don't want you to make the people important to you worry about you either. I'm sure they care just as deeply as you do for them. They'd be so sad if anything happened to you."

Lucille frowned and looked back up at Ventus. "I'm sorry. Am I selfish?" Lucille sadly asked.

"Well...I do think you need to be a bit more considerate of your Mother. You said she's a doctor, right? Then I'm sure she's just telling you to stay inside so you can get better sooner. I know you don't want to make your Mother worry about you, right?" Ciela told her.

"I...don't want to make Mommy or Daddy sad."

"Of course you don't. You're a sweet little girl," Ciela cooed.

"I think we should take you home at least. You did help us against that mean boy, after all. I'd also feel better knowing you got back safely without collapsing." Ventus smiled.

Lucille nodded. "Can we take the Paopu fruit with us?"

"Leave that to little ol' me~" Ciela winked. "I'll show you what a fairy can do."

"You're really getting into your role," Ventus quietly teased.

"Hush, you. I'm just playing along for her sake." Ciela huffed, although she spoke quietly enough to not let Lucille hear.

Ciela cast a seraphic arte that made the bundle of star-shaped fruit levitate in mid-air.

"Wow! Is that magic?" Lucille's eyes shined brightly.

"You could say that," Ventus said as a white lie. Seraphic artes were technically magic, but at the same time, artes were a completely different branch of magic that only Seraphim had access to.

"Well I did say I could do magic." Ciela proudly claimed.

"That's so cool! What else can you do, Miss Fairy?" Lucille cheered.

"A good magician never reveals all their secrets, little one." Ciela teased.

With that, Ventus offered Lucille a piggyback ride, although Lucille was a little hesitant.

"Are you sure? I don't want to cause trouble for you," Lucille shyly asked.

"Hey, it's no biggie. Besides, I'd worry about you walking all the way back home."

"We're on an island, silly." Lucille giggled. "But okay..." Lucille allowed Ventus to pick her up and carry her on her back.

"There, you see? You barely weigh anything."

"I've been meaning to ask. Who is this Florian fellow that you wanted to give one of these Paopu fruit too?"

"Oh! That's my friend! He's a flower, but I promised I'd show him a paopu fruit and tell him all about the legend behind it."

"Your friend...is a flower? And it's a he?" Ciela repeated in confusion.

Lucille nodded and answered innocently, "He's a Paopu flower. They're native to our home, but they're really helpful. Mommy says they can cure all kinds of bad things that people can get sick with."

"Oh, so that's the miraculous healing flower I've heard about before from Lady Medea..." Ciela clicked.

"...?" Lucille blinked.

"Ah! Never mind! Just ramblings of a fairy!" Ciela quickly backtracked.

"How come she hasn't used one on you?" Ventus wondered.

"Well...the Paopu flower is really important to the people of the island, so Mommy says it's against island law to pick them without permission."

"I see. So to preserve them, they made a law to protect them."

Lucille nodded. "Yeah! Mommy's the only one who can because she's the island doctor."

"Makes sense. Since she's the one who knows how to turn it into medicine to help people," Ciela understood.

"Mommy did try using the paopu flower medicine on me but it didn't work."

"I see. So even the paopu flower has limits huh?" Ventus responded.

"It sounds like more of a constitution problem than a sickness." Ciela whispered quietly to Ventus.

Lucille simply nodded. "It did make me feel a little better. I didn't fall down yet since drinking it this morning."

"So it levitated some of your symptoms. That's good at least. You really talk to a flower, though?" Ventus asked curiously.

"Yeah! I know it sounds silly, but I really think he can hear me. My brother and Riku are always playing outside so...he's really my only friend that stays with me all the time."

"..." Ventus frowned sadly. "That's...pretty lonely."

Lucille shook her head. "It's okay. I'm used to it. Besides, Florian keeps me company! I promised to show him a paopu fruit, and I wanted to get some more to share with Mommy, Daddy, my brother and Riku."

"Such a sweet little thing. Even so, you really should have asked one of them to get some instead of asking your friend and your brother to smuggle you here."

"I guess...but it was a lot of fun, though! This is my first adventure ever! I also got to meet you and Ven. So I'm really happy." Lucille beamed.

Ventus smiled. "Anyway, let's get you back home. Can you tell us where to go?"

"Uhh..."

"..."

"..."

"...Don't tell me you don't know how to get home?" Ciela sweat-dropped.

"I do too! I don't have bad na-navi...whatever that word Riku uses!"

"Is she trying to say 'Navigation'?" Ventus asked.

"Sounds like it," Ciela answered.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find our way eventually," Ventus gently soothed Lucille's wounded pride and started to walk off the islet, being followed by Ciela, who was carrying the bundle of paopu fruit via magic.

* * *

Walking alongside the beach, Ventus continued to carry Lucille on his back. They spent the time talking about random little things, like about the island itself, about the locals and all kinds of things. It was pretty interesting for both Ventus and Ciela.

"I see. So you guys use boats to travel from island to island. I guess that's a given considering this place is called 'Destiny Islands'," Ciela noted.

Lucille nodded. "The main island is the biggest one of all, so that's where everyone lives!"

"Do you get other people from other islands too?" Ventus asked.

"Hmm...I dunno. I think so. Mommy has to visit other islands sometimes when others get sick too."

"I'll take that as a yes then." Ventus smiled.

Lucille then noticed a green star-shaped trinket that was attached to Ventus' pants. "That's really pretty! It kinda looks like a paopu fruit!"

Ventus blinked and looked down to the way-finder. "Oh, so you noticed it, huh? One of my friends made this. She made one for each of us."

"Really? What does it do?" Lucille beamed.

"Uh...I guess it's a lucky charm? Aqua said she cast a spell over them, but she never stated what besides calling it an 'unbreakable connection'. I think she got the idea for them from the paopu fruit." Ventus recalled the night both he and Terra had gotten their way-finders from Aqua.

"That sounds so cool~" Lucille awed. "Say, do you know about the legend of the paopu fruit?"

"There's a legend about them?" Ciela asked curiously.

Lucille nodded. "Hm! Mommy says it's a famous local legend! Everyone knows about it!" Lucille added excitedly.

"Okay, let's hear it," Ventus encouraged.

"They say that if you share a paopu fruit with someone you really, really care about, your hearts will be bound together for all eternity!" Lucille retold the tale.

"Ah, that's so romantic~ If I was human, I'd love to test that for myself," Ciela swooned.

"Roman...tic?" Lucille tilted her head.

"Don't worry about it, little one. You're not old enough to worry about those kinds of things just yet," Ciela gently reassured.

"I see...so that was what inspired Aqua to make the way-finders," Ventus connected the two together of what Aqua was trying to convey with the way-finders. It was a way to keep their friendship bound together to the three of them forever. Ventus felt guilty for the way he acted to Aqua back in Radiant Garden at this realization. He really didn't consider how Aqua felt at all. Some friend he was...

"Is Miss Aqua someone very close to you?"

Ventus nodded. "I have two friends, Aqua and Terra. Both of them are very important to me. What about you and your brother? You two are very close, right?"

"Hmhm! We're twins! I'm the older one, but Sora's always treating me like the younger twin and babies me just like Mommy." She pouted. "But..." She then smiled warmly, "He's still the best twin brother ever."

"You two sound very close indeed. Is that the reason why you wanted to play outside with your brother and friend so badly?"

Lucille tensed a bit and clung onto Ventus' shoulders tighter. "I'm...scared that one day they'll leave me behind if I don't hurry up and get better..."

"I don't think they'd do that. Not after the way you built them up," Ventus tried to reassure.

"But..." Lucille frowned.

"How about we make a promise then?" Ventus offered.

"Huh?" Lucille blinked.

"A promise, Ven?" Ciela repeated curiously.

Ventus nodded. "If one day you should find yourself separated from your friends, I'll come running to help you find them again."

"Really? You promise?" Lucille looked hopeful.

Ventus nodded. "I promise."

"You have to pinky-swear! Otherwise I won't believe you!" Lucille raised her tiny little finger.

Ventus took out his way-finder and brought it up to Lucille. "Better yet, let's swear it on this way-finder. There's no way I would break a promise on something so precious to me."

Lucille beamed brightly and gently placed one of her hands over Ven's hand that held the way-finder and let her fingers touch the cool glassy surface of the charm. "I promise too, Ven! I'll come and help you too if you end up lost and can't find your friends. I bet your friends would do the same for you too!"

"..." Ventus then smiled. "Yeah, you're right. They would do that."

"It's our little secret though, okay? You can't tell anyone about it, otherwise the magic of the way-finder will wear off," He then added, bringing a finger to his lips to illustrate his point. He put the way-finder back where it was previously.

"I can't tell anyone about it? Not my brother or Riku? Or my Mommy or Daddy?"

"Even magic has rules that we all have to obey~" Ciela teased.

"...Okay then. I won't tell anyone. It's our secret so you have to keep your promise to not tell anyone else either, got it? I'll be really mad if you break it," She accepted.

"Right. Got it," Ventus promised.

 _'This feels weird, though. There's something nostalgic and familiar about Lucille's heart but...I can't put my finger on it. It's like I've forgotten something...something important,'_ Ventus thought to himself in confusion.

When he looked back at Lucille, he saw that she had nodded off.

"Ah, she must have been tired out. The poor thing. Her body must not be used to so much happening at once." Ciela decided to cast a minor healing spell to soothe any muscle pains the girl might feel when she wakes up.

"Lucille! Lucille, where are you?" They heard someone calling out for the brunette girl's name.

They looked over to wear the docks where on the island. They saw a grown-up calling out for Lucille's name. He shared a lot of similarities with Lucille. Could this be her father? Ciela quickly dispelled her magic, which made the paopu fruit she was levitating fall to the sandy beach below.

The sun-kissed toned man noticed them in the corner of his eye and saw who it was that was on the young boy's back. "Lucille!" He rushed over quickly until he was face to face with Ventus.

"Are you...Lucille's father, by chance?" Ventus asked.

The man blinked in surprise. "You were able to tell that by just looking at me?"

"You two do look a lot alike," Ventus joked lightly.

"Heh heh...true. I hear that enough from Kaito and Mizuko." The man chuckled and scratched his midnight-blue hair sheepishly. He had shaggy neck-length hair with eyes that had an odd shade of blue and illac mixed together. He wore a simple blue islander tunic with short sleeves and brown shorts that went to his knee caps. One of the strands was longer than the rest of his hair, which had been braided and attached to the near end of the braid was a small yellow feather and white feathered earrings, one on each ear. He also wore simple islander sandals like Lucille did.

"...?"

"Oh, right. You wouldn't know who they are. They're the parents of my twins' closest friend. Apparently, he and my son, Sora, had the bright idea to smuggle her out of her room and sneak her onto the boat without me noticing. The wife chewed me out big time when she found Lucille missing."

"How did you not notice her at all?" Ventus asked.

"I know, right? Well on my way to winning the best dad of the year award if I couldn't tell there was an extra passenger when I brought the children here," The man sighed while saying a self-degrading joke.

"Heh heh..." Ventus laughed nervously. "Must be hard having twins to look after."

"They're certainly a handful, but they're still our little lights. I see you've been taking care of her. Thanks. You have no idea how much I appreciate you for watching over her," He thanked the boy as Ventus gently handed Lucille over to him without waking up the small girl.

"How was she? She didn't collapse or faint at any point, did she?" He asked curiously.

"Hmm...She did lose her balance at one point, but other than that, no, nothing serious."

"I see...I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure Mira will be happy to hear that too." The man kept looking straight in the direction where Ciela stood with a confused look.

"Is something wrong?"

"Sorry...I feel like there's something there next to you but...maybe it's just my imagination. Feels oddly nostalgic to me, though."

"He can sense my presence but he can't see me? I thought it was weird. I can tell he definitely has the sight to perceive Seraphim like myself but...it's almost like he's forgotten how to see Seraphim."

"Is that possible?" Ventus whispered to Ciela.

"If you're an amnesiac—absolutely," Ciela answered.

"...?" The man looked puzzled with an raised eyebrow.

"Ah! Sorry! Never mind about that. I'm Ventus. Call me Ven, though," Ventus introduced himself in an attempt to change the topic.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Ven. Call me Kazuki-just the local charm and accessory maker on these islands. Let me thank you again for looking after Lucille. I hope she wasn't too much trouble for you."

Ventus shook his head. "Not at all. I really enjoyed her company. She actually went to gather some paopu fruit for everyone." He glanced over to the bundle of paopu fruit that Ciela had left there.

"She gathered this much all by herself?" Kazuki blinked.

"Well, I helped a little." Ventus laughed nervously.

"Ah, I see." Kazuki smiled softly. He then gazed out to the ocean before dropping a bombshell that Ventus didn't see coming.

"You're...not from the islands, are you? You come from the outside world."

Ventus jumped in shock. "Huh?! W-well, you see-"

Kazuki laughed. "Don't worry. It's our secret. Besides...I...technically wasn't born on these islands either."

"Wait...are you saying you're from another world too?" Ventus curiously asked.

Kazuki shook his head. "I honestly have no idea. I washed up here one day with no memory of who I was before-besides my name, that is."

"So he really does have amnesia..." Ciela whispered.

"For all I know, I could have come from one of the other islands or perhaps from the outside world myself. Kaito found me and brought me to Mira's clinic. She's a doctor, you see."

"Right. Lucille said that her mother was the island doctor," Ventus recalled.

Kazuki nodded. "I won't go into the details, but let's just say I'm content with the life I have now."

"..." Ventus listened earnestly.

"Even if my memories did return one day, I have a life here now. I could never leave Mira or the children behind. There's still a small part of me that wonders what if I had gotten my memories before I became so attached to this world? What would have become of me then? Heh, I guess we'll never know now."

"I know this will sound weird, but could you humor me by asking you a question?" Ventus asked.

"Hm? After everything you've done for my little Lucille it's the least I can do. Shoot." Kazuki smiled and nodded.

"What if...you remembered your past and you found out that you were going to be used as a weapon and they were using your friends as leverage to lure you where they want you to go to spawn this weapon," Ventus questioned.

Kazuki blinked. "That's...quite a dilemma. I don't know what happened to you before arriving here but...if it was me...I'd do what I can. Even if I couldn't do much, I'd protect the things that I love with all my heart. Does that makes sense?"

"Huh...with all my heart." Ventus gently clenched the way-finder, thinking of his friends.

"Besides, a weapon can only be used for evil if the one who uses it wants to do that. The same can be said for anyone who uses that weapon for good too. It's not the weapon that's the problem. It's the darkness in the hearts of people that causes most human tragedies."

Ventus looked awed at what he heard.

"Okay, now I'm really curious of who this guy really was before he lost his memories. There's no way he can be a normal guy after spouting stuff like that!" Ciela whistled.

"Hm? Did I say something wrong?" Kazuki tilted his head.

"No! It's just...I honestly didn't expect something so deep from you."

"Heh heh...I get that a lot, you know." Kazuki chuckled softly with a sheepish smile. "Perhaps because it's a remnant of who I used to be is why I'm able to say these things. The point is, though, if you are this 'weapon', shouldn't you be the one who decides if you should allow this or choose to fight it to protect what's more important to you? The only one who can make this choice is you and no one else."

"My choice..." Ventus repeated mainly to himself. He then nodded and turned to Kazuki. "You know...you're right. I'd rather not fight at all. The thought of becoming a weapon that would cause so much hurt terrifies me. But...running away wouldn't solve anything and if I don't go, they might really hurt my friends. I can't let them fight alone. I want to fight too-to protect them-not to become this weapon that he wants from me so badly."

"Looks like your mind's made up. I hope I was able to help."

Ventus faced Kazuki. "More than you know, thanks."

"I better take this little one home. I'm sure Mira and Riku's parents are chewing out her brother and their best friend even as we speak. Lucille will get an earful from her mother as well." Kazuki offered Lucille to Ventus again. "Could you hold her while I load the paopu fruit you guys collected into the boat? It would be a waste to leave them here after all the effort you and Lucille put into gathering them."

Ventus nodded. Once Kazuki placed Lucille back into Ventus' arms, he went over to collect the fruit. Ventus looked at the sleeping form of Lucille.

"She's really out like a light, huh?" Ciela cooed.

"I swear...I feel like I've met her before..." Ventus still couldn't shake off the feeling of nostalgia. Just then, a flash of a pink-robed young woman with a fox-shaped mask appeared in Ventus' head but it was gone as soon as it came.

"Master...Ava?"

"Ven? What's wrong?"

"N-no, it's nothing." Ventus quickly shook his head. He had no idea where that came from.

"Alright then, everything's ready. Thanks for holding her, kid," Kazuki declared and gently took back Lucille from Ventus.

"Ah...Kazuki, right? Do you mind giving her this when she wakes up?" Ventus took out what looked like a heart-shaped emblem.

"Didn't Lady Medea give you that?" Ciela recalled in surprise.

Ventus nodded but didn't say anything. "You said that you make charms and accessories, right? Maybe you can use this to make something for Lucille?" Ventus told him.

"Hmm...I have been meaning to make some necklaces for the twins on their tenth birthday. I know that's still a long ways off yet, but I like to plan things ahead of time. If that's your wish, Ven, I'll gladly use this towards Lucille's necklace."

"Don't let her know it's from me. She...probably won't remember me when she's older. Even though it's against the rules-I want her to keep this at least, even if she doesn't remember me."

"You'd be surprised how the heart can remember things our memories can't. I'll respect your wishes, though." Kazuki nodded and placed Lucille carefully into the boat.

"I don't know where this place you plan on going is...but don't forget what you said here, okay? Don't let anyone decide your fate for you. Make your own choice. Oh, wow, that was deep even for me. I wonder where I heard that line before," Kazuki wondered thoughtfully at the last part. "Anyways, take care kid. If you ever come back here, don't be a stranger okay?"

"Gotcha. Thanks, Kazuki." Ventus saw Kazuki off and he rowed away with the sleeping Lucille in tow. Once they were far enough away, Ventus lifted his wayfinder and gently held onto it.

"Terra, Aqua, Medea...I swear I'll put an end to this..."

* * *

After that, Ciela recalled the rest of the tragic events that took place afterwards. Even now, Ventus still slept in the chamber of waking, protected by Lady Medea and Aqua. They were the only two who could enter that chamber, and while Ciela could also enter as well, it was only because she served under Lady Medea.

Ciela was a Seraph, of course, but she wasn't like her other kin. She was what was known as a minor seraph, a lower ranking seraph that took the form of fairies or other magical creatures. Therefore, they were mistaken a lot for guardian deities. They were usually assigned to higher-ranking seraphim as servants. That was what happened to Ciela when Lady Medea found Ciela lost in the Realm of Darkness before the Land of Departure was locked away by Aqua. Ciela was grateful to have Lady Medea as her superior. She always treated Ciela with respect and as an equal-not that other seraphim wouldn't do the same, of course. But there was a certain level of decorum that one must uphold.

But given Ciela's unusual circumstances, she never had that kind of training and Lady Medea never pushed it on her. They just happily co-existed and worked together. She gave Ciela the special job of helping to find wayward hearts that were trapped in the Labyrinth of Memories and bring them back safely to Lady Medea so she could keep them safe until the day Aqua returned to undo the seraphic artes around the castle, restoring its true form as the Land of Departure once more. Then they would take those hearts to the Sacred Grove so those hearts could finally be reborn to new owners or restore them back to their rightful owners.

Despite everything, she somehow managed to meet Lucille again, ten years later. Lucille, unfortunately did seem to have forgotten about their meeting and even Ven, for that matter. Of course, she was only four years old. No matter how good anyone's memory is...it's almost impossible to remember that far back. She had noticed that she was wearing the heart-shaped necklace around her neck. Ciela could recognize right away it was the heart-shaped charm that Lady Medea gave to Ventus, who then gave it away to Lucille. It made Ciela really happy to see Lucille wearing it.

That means Kazuki kept his word and the fact Lucille still wore it even now proved that perhaps in the back of her mind she still remembered Ventus. Lucille even said the name was familiar to her. Ciela was sure that when she meets Ventus face to face, that memory would come back completely. After all, the heart can remember things that even memories couldn't recall.

Right now, though, the important thing was to find out what was really happening at Castle Oblivion. Why were Lucille and her friends here? Did Lady Medea play a part in bringing Lucille here to Castle Oblivion because of her connection to Ven? Why? These were things that Ciela would have to ask when she finally saw Lady Medea again.

* * *

And that is it for the secret episode! Did you guys like it? I hope I was able to get the behavior of a four year old right. I did double-check it with my beta-reader to double-check so hopefully it worked out fine. =3

A big thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and alerted this fan fic since last chapter or has come across this for the first time. I hope that you are all enjoying the story so far. =3

Now, onwards to review corner!

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Guest (1):** Aw thank you. =3 I'm really glad that you are enjoying the story so far. I hope you continue to do so. And don't worry, we're only a few chapters away until we finally see Zero's face for real and who knows we might even learn of what's really going on. ;)

 **Mysterygirl145:** Glad I was able to answer your question before. I hope this secret episode pleased you. =3

 **ReadingChameleon:** Indeed I am planning on doing that. =3 How I'm going to tackle the story of that one is something I'm still working out. ^-^ After Chain of Memories, I might do a poll on what KH game I should tackle next. =3 But have no fear, eventually Birth By Sleep will be retold! XD

 **Guest:** Secret episodes can be interesting as they can reveal more about a character that's wasn't given a lot of attention through the main story. =3

Back in Radiant Dawn (AKA KH1) There were secret episodes for Ion and Aqua. And there will be one for Zero too when the time is right-which is much closer than you think. ;3

I hope that you enjoyed this one though. =D

 **Ctran03931:** Yeah, I did want to make Daybreak Town its own memory world but it didn't work out as I hoped. I do plan do more with Daybreak Town at some point in the future, probably using the Book of Prophecies as a way to visit Daybreak Town? Like how in Union Cross, the player could visit the disney worlds that would appear in the future? Or perhaps Memoria? Or I could do something else, I'll work something out. XD

That being said, don't worry we'll meet the remaining three successors when we reach KH2's arc. Might even be able to squeeze one of them into Days if I can and make their debut there. X3

 **Gry22:** Hmmm, perhaps, depends on if I can squeeze into the story or not. I'll have to do some research on it. =3

 **Kaia:** Thank you very much! I'm glad that you enjoyed last chapter. I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. =3

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

And with that I'll will work on the next chapter asap. =3

Until next chapter, happy reading everyone! Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	9. Chapter 8: Once Upon A Memory (Part I)

**Episode 8: Once Upon A Memory (Part I)**

* * *

Arriving back in the familiar halls of Castle Oblivion, they finally explained the whole story of what had happened with them and what Ratatosk had told them about their current situation. If Ratatosk was telling the truth or not was another matter entirely.

"So let me get this straight…According to Ratatosk, who is a Time Seraph that has the ability to shift between realms without the usual limitations, took you to an isolated realm that was smack dab in the middle of the realms of Light and Darkness, right?" Oswald started.

"Yup." Lucille nodded.

"And he also told you that we're all really in a very elaborate dream world that only looks like Castle Oblivion because it was created using the illusionary artes that protects this Castle from the memories of someone who lived here?"

Florian nodded next. "He also said that the illusion was so elaborate that even I was fooled. I still don't know if he's telling the truth or just pulling our leg."

"I wouldn't put it past him. He's got a trouble-maker vibe, that one." Oswald shrugged.

"Wait...how did I get in this mess if we really are in one giant shared dream? And if we are in a dream, where did our real bodies go?" Axel was just as confused from this revelation.

"That's a good question. It also worries me if we really are sleeping right now. I can't tell if I'm awake or not anymore." Lucille shook her head.

"Although...that would explain why ever since entering the castle, my portals haven't been working like usual. It's like I'm cut off from the source," Axel noted.

"Aw, can't take shortcuts this time?" Zen teased.

"Yeah, alright, laugh it up, claw boy," Axel grumbled darkly.

"Um...So...if that's true and we are actually all in a shared dream world, when did we step inside it in the first place?"

"Hmmm..." Lucille crossed her arms and tried to think of when exactly they could have left the real Castle Oblivion and entered the dream one. Was it when Zero took them to that memory world of Destiny Islands? Or could it have been even before that?

"Hmmm...The only one I think is capable of doing something like this would be Lady Medea. She's a dream-weaver like Lumen here, but she's much more skilled and advanced in her artes that she would be able to pull off something like this. But...why would she do this? It's not like her at all," Ciela honestly answered.

"And I share the same power to do that too? That's...a scary thought." Lumen shivered.

"Are you saying it was Lady Medea who trapped us here?" Chi gasped.

"No...this isn't the same as the Labyrinth of Memories where it was turned into a literal prison," Ciela disagreed. "I get the feeling this dream is much more open and accessible. So people can get in and out of this place if they know where to look."

Lumen nodded. "I think Miss Ciela is right. I've been in that Labyrinth for who knows how long, and I can already tell this place has a different feeling. It's more...gentle but it's slowly but surely fading away."

"Fading away? Wait! If we really are in one giant dream together, what happens to us when the dream ends? Will we be trapped forever?!" Quartz panicked.

"Uhhh...I don't know. Sorry," Lumen apologized.

"Don't worry about it. You're not as familiar with your powers yet, so I imagine there's still a lot to learn about them," Florian reassured the green-robed seraph. "I really think we need to talk to Lady Medea, though. If Ciela is right and she was the one who made this place and brought us here, she must know what's really going on around here," Florian suggested.

"What about Zero, though?" Lucille asked.

"I'm beginning to think that what Ratatosk said before about him wasn't all a lie. What if both he and Lady Medea are working together?" Zen wondered.

"You make it sound as if Lady Medea is some kind of villain! Please don't say that," Ciela cried out.

Zen shook his head. "No, don't misunderstand. While I don't think Zero intended for things to get this out of hand, I really think there's something he hasn't told us yet-an important truth that he couldn't say freely. That's why he left us these Star Fragments that we've been toiling away to gather together. And this Lady Medea knows the truth as well so she's playing along with this plan of his."

"Zen and I barged into this place with Moira's help, travelling through the dream realm physically. So chances are Zen and I are the only ones that are really here and completely awake."

"Maybe when we gather the remaining two and combine them all together, we'll get our answer with the password he left behind for us."

"Would Vexen's lab even be here if we are in a dream?" Axel questioned. "If it is, I have to give this creator credit for being so detailed in making this place look like the real Castle Oblivion."

 _"It seems like Gula and I still can't physically manifest in the Castle Oblivion parts. Maybe we're only limited to being real inside the memory worlds themselves,"_ Ava noted.

 _"Maybe it was designed that way-on the idea that we were still unaware of what's really happening,"_ Gula wondered.

"You know...with a combination of mine and Lumen's artes, we might be able to break a rift through this dream world, allowing us to return to the real Castle Oblivion-that is, if you want to leave."

"I appreciate it, Ciela, but I think we need to stay and finish what we started. I promised Zero, after all."

"Are you sure?" Ciela asked with concern.

Lucille nodded in response.

"I'll find Lady Medea for you then. I really need to know myself what's going on here and why Lady Medea chose to hide something like this away from me. I'll take Lumen with me. I need to introduce him to her, anyway," Ciela told them.

"Lumen, take care of yourself, okay? Oh, and be respectful to your elders, not that I imagine Lady Medea will mind it," Florian smiled and offered some advice to the seraph.

Lumen nodded silently. "We'll meet each other again, right? I don't want this to be the last time we ever see each other."

Lucille bent down and gently pointed to Lumen's chest where his heart would be. "We'll always be near so long as you remember us in your heart. Anyways, of course we'll see each other again! I'm sure by the time we meet again, you'll grow stronger as a person."

"Do you think so? Maybe I'll be strong as you or Mr. Warrior of Light? He was really cool! So calm and composed even in the heat of battle!" Lumen's smile got bigger when mentioning the Cornelian Knight.

Lucille chuckled. "Sounds like he has quite the admirer. If you put in the effort, who knows? Maybe you'll become much stronger than you thought you were," Lucille then offered as an answer.

"Hmmm..." Axel crossed his arms as if thinking about something.

"Axel, are you coming?" Ciela asked curiously.

"I think I'm going to look into what's going on in the real Castle Oblivion right now. There's something very weird going on and I wanna know what it is."

"Actually, you might be the right guy for that sort of thing. You said yourself that you worked as a double-agent to stop the plans that the real Marluxia had when he was still alive," Lucille recalled.

"So you did get it memorized." Axel smirked. "Anyway, babysitting you lot is definitely not my style."

Lucille puffed her cheeks. "And just when I was beginning to think you weren't half-bad."

"Watch out for that Marluxia, though. Memory or not, he's still dangerous," Axel warned.

"We haven't seen him in a while. Let's hope it stays that way," Oswald noted.

"Chi, you should go with them too." Lucille turned to the small dream-eater.

"Me? But, Lady Lucille! I can't leave you, Master Ava and Lord Florian here! What if I can't re-enter this dream world once we leave it?"

"It'll be fine. Besides, someone needs to keep Axel in check." Lucille winked.

"Oh, c'mon, really? You guys still think I'm going to betray you?" Axel grumbled.

"Says the double-agent among us." Zen rolled his eyes.

"...Touche," Axel conceded.

"You will be okay, right?" Chi asked again.

"It'll be okay, Chi. We'll be back together before you know it," Florian reassured.

"You're my self-appointed guardian after all, right? If we really are in a dream world, we need to find where our real bodies are. If anyone can track them down, it's you," Lucille reminded.

"Ooooh, I see!" Chi clicked. "That's an excellent plan, Lady Lucille! Leave it to me! I won't fail you!"

"Okay, lightbulb, make with the magic or whatever it is you guys do."

"They're called seraphic artes," Ciela sighed. "Anyway, it was wonderful meeting you again and your friends too, Lucille. Be careful, okay? I promise I'll get to the bottom of this and find out what's going on from Lady Medea."

"Bye for now!" Lumen waved before following Ciela, Axel and Chi as they left to find a weak spot to exploit and escape the dream.

Lucille looked at Zen when they had left and saw he still hadn't covered his heartless claw yet. "Oh, that's right! We need to put Merlin's bandages on. Let me help. I've told you before that I had some hands-on experience thanks to my Mom," Lucille offered.

"It's fine, I can do it myself." Zen shook his head as he delved around in his side pocket to find the spare bandages that Merlin gave him.

Lucille placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "You said yourself it was difficult to put these bandages on by yourself. You also said that you wouldn't mind my help if I was still up for it. Stop being so hard-headed and just accept my help, damn it."

"I'm not a child! I can do this myself! I appreciate it, but I'm not that much of an invalid that I need help. Why are you suddenly being so difficult about it?" Zen argued.

Lucille refused to back down and continued to glare while folding her arms over her chest. "Is it that hard to ask for help from someone? Besides, since when did I ever need a reason to help people?"

After a few tense seconds, Zen sighed in defeat and roughly handed over the bandages to Lucille before sitting down on the floor and raising his cursed arm at her. "Fine, enough with the glaring and just do it-if you're that confident about your skills."

Lucille beamed and nodded. "See? Was that so hard? And just you wait! I'll make the best bandage wrapping ever that you'll never want to take it off!" she then rose up to the challenge that he set for her. She sat down near him and started to wrap the bandages carefully around the arm like her mother taught her.

"Why is she making this sound like a challenge?" Quartz sweat-dropped.

"Ah, to be young again." Oswald smiled at the sight.

As Lucille continued her work, Zen spoke up.

"You said that you had experience with this because of your mother, right?" Zen asked.

Lucille nodded. "I've mentioned it before, but my Mom is the Island doctor of our main island. While I was growing up, Mom would teach me things about medical care and first aid. It was mostly just basic stuff, but I do know some make medicine with certain herbs too. I remember the first time I tried this, I used Sora as my patient."

"And how did that go?" Zen curiously asked.

"...Sora ended up looking like a real life mummy by the end of it." Lucille sweat-dropped at the awkward memory of Lucille convincing her brother to play doctor with her on one of the very rare occasions that Sora was also unwell so he had to stay at home. Sora managed to find their mother's supply of linen wrapping bandages, and Lucille proceeded to make her first attempt at wrapping the bandage material. She originally intended to just do his arm, but she got carried away and ended up covering Sora entirely, making him look like a mummy.

When their mother came in and saw Sora's poor state, she laughed at the sight and helped her son out of his embarrassing situation. Although, she did gently scold the pair of them for wasting the bandages and allowing Sora to enter her room without their mother's knowledge since Sora's sickness was contagious and could have passed on to Lucille by accident, who already had a weak body to worry about. She then embraced her twins, kissed both of them on their foreheads and then continued to teach them the proper way of using the bandages.

As awkward as the memory was, Lucille was still very fond of it, and it helped her to remember how to make bandages properly.

Zen did his best to remain neutral, but he couldn't help snicker lightly despite his attempts to suppress his laugh.

"Hey, don't laugh! Sora and I ended up getting mercilessly teased by Riku for months after that!" Lucille puffed her cheeks.

"How did he find out? Did you or Sora tell him?" Florian wondered.

"Goodness, no. Let's just say our mother and Riku's mother's friendship is as close as Sora and Riku's, so they tell each other everything. They've been childhood friends themselves, and they've remained that close even now."

"Aw, that's so sweet. So you guys have known each other since forever, right?" Quartz smiled fondly.

"To be honest...I don't think I can remember a time when Riku wasn't there. The three of us had always been together and when Kairi washed up on our islands, it became the four of us. Back then...Riku was much more open with his feelings, and he would take time to play with me when I couldn't go outside. When we got older, though, he slowly started to change. He became more closed off and started acting more like an adult even though he was still a kid himself."

"Oh..." Quartz's expression saddened.

"Oh! Don't worry, Riku and I were still friends despite that. He just became more distant from all of us and, truthfully, it irritated me at times. I wanted to know why he was acting that way and help him somehow. But...well, you know, the rest is history. I hope he's alright-wherever he is right now." Lucille's mind ended up recalling what happened in Monstro's belly. Her face turned beat red, and she shook her head violently to try and erase the memory from her mind.

"Considering what we heard from Namine, he seems to be doing alright-so long as he doesn't get himself possessed by crazy delusional seekers of darkness again," Zen answered curtly, although it sounded like he was more annoyed than anything.

"I know you and Riku don't like each other, but you two are more alike than both of you think. I hope that you two will be friends someday."

"Good luck with that. He really infuriates me. Most of the time I just want to punch him for being such a jerk during our first journey," Zen scoffed.

Lucille sighed and shook her head. "Now that I think about it, you said Lord Ansem was your father figure and Aster and Kairi were essentially like your siblings. Did you ever know Aster and Kairi's mother?"

"Queen Tia...?" Zen sounded hesitant and there was a long pause in-between them.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," Lucille quickly backtracked.

"No, it's fine. I'm pretty sure Ion and Aster had already told you a bit about me." Zen shook his head. "Unfortunately...I never really knew Queen Tia. I do know that she had been adamant about adopting me after Lord Ansem found me alone in the gardens. Grandma told me once that she had cared for me like a second son when she was still alive."

Lucille looked down to the ground. "I'm sorry. Here I was talking about my normal childhood while you had to go through..."

Zen shook his head. "You're such a dork. You shouldn't apologize for things that neither of us have any control over. I admit-it hurt being treated differently by most of the people of Radiant Garden just because I came from another world but despite that...I was happy. There were still people among them that treated me kindly. There was obviously Aster, Ion, Kairi, Grandma and Lord Ansem, but there were others too."

"Really?" Lucille pressed curiously.

"Hm...I remember there was this one older kid who visited the library often, which was usually my hangout spot when I wasn't with Aster. We didn't talk that often, but we didn't mind each other's presence either. I think he was like me-he didn't know how to connect with others or keep out of sight. We did exchange some words with each other at times. He was actually alright-very quiet, though, and he tended to speak a little too formally for my liking."

"Thinking back, I think he tried to protect me once. I don't remember from what exactly."

"He sounds like a nice person." Lucille smiled.

"What was his name, if you don't mind us asking?" Florian curiously asked.

Zen gave it some thought, trying to recall the name of that boy. "I think...his name was Ienzo? He only told me it once. I don't know what became of him after our world fell, but I had hoped that he made it out safely too."

"If he's anything like you and Aster, I'm sure the kid will be fine," Oswald reassured.

"Zen comes from another world?" Quartz asked, being innocently curious.

"Oh, right, of course you wouldn't know. Yeah, I came from another world. I don't know what world. I don't have any memories of the place. I was found by Lord Ansem as a baby in Radiant Garden. That's the gist of it," Zen bluntly explained.

Quartz outstretched his arms and tackled Zen into a hug.

"What the?! Don't just glomp people out of nowhere! Ever heard of personal space?!"

"But it's so sad! You never knew the world you were born into. I'd hate that if that were me. If you feel sad, you don't need to hide it inside, you know? Hugs make everything better!" Quartz sniffed.

Zen's eye twitched and pushed Quartz off him. "Get the heck off me! I'm fine. Radiant Garden isn't perfect, but it's still my home."

"But...what if you had family in your home world? Wouldn't they miss you too?" Quartz asked.

"..." Zen was surprised by Quartz's question. "Huh...you know, I never really thought about it."

"Huh? You really didn't think about if you might have family that survived?" Lucille looked surprised by this too.

"Well...I just assumed my original home world got swallowed by darkness and everyone with it." Zen shrugged.

"But you don't know that for sure." Quartz raised his hand, pointing to the ceiling above. "Would you ever go back there if you had the chance?" Quartz then asked.

"Hm..." Zen gave this some thought. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about the world I was born into before I was taken away from it...but I think in the end, I'd probably stay with the world that I grew up in."

"I see." Quartz smiled softly. "As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

"Hm?" Lucille looked confused by those words. She then chuckled. "You and Zen have really hit it off since you two met."

"You really think so?" Quartz went starry-eyed.

"I still think he's an insufferable idiot," Zen bluntly stated.

Quartz's eyes watered.

"But..." Zen then added. "You're alright. I don't hate you if that's what you're worried about."

"Really? You don't?" He sniffed.

"Trust me, you'd know if I did." Zen rolled his eyes.

"Yay!"

"He's so easily pleased." Oswald sweat-dropped.

"Alright, I think we're done." Lucille finally finished with the final knot and looked proudly at her work.

Zen flexed his arm a few times to test the bindings. To his surprise, it felt like a good bind. "Okay, I admit it. I'm impressed. Guess you really did take those lessons seriously."

"You like it? You're the lucky owner of my first ever bandage wrap. Appreciate it." Lucille winked.

Zen just gave a blank, unimpressed look.

"HEY! What's that look meant to mean? You jerk! I put my heart and soul into that!" Lucille was triggered.

"You're taking this way too seriously." Zen shook his head but then spoke quietly. "But thanks, I'll do my best to not ruin this binding." He placed a hand over his bandaged arm unconsciously.

Lucille blinked before getting up with a small smile. "You better. You've only got so many spares. I'm actually pretty impressed at how much you still have left."

"Merlin's always been the cautious type," Zen commented, taking the spare magic bandages back and putting them away. "'Always go prepared and expect the unexpected', he would always say. I swear, that Wizard knows more than he's letting on."

"Heh heh. You can say that again. That reminds me, I still need to finish off those books Merlin gave me for studying before handing them back."

"You still have them?"

"Yup. Should be still on the Ortensia." Lucille nodded. "By the way, what did you do with the Ortensia if you two are here?"

"We left it at Twilight Town. Here's hoping that when we get out of this place, we'll be able to get back there," Oswald answered.

"You sure it'll be okay there?" Lucille was a bit concerned about leaving such an important airship to Oswald in a world that they don't know could have thieves that would steal gummi ships.

"Chrono offered to look after it for us," Zen responded.

"Oh, I see. Then I'm sure it'll be safe in Lord Chrono's hands." Florian nodded.

"He was really worried when we came back alone without you guys. He thought that he did something wrong and blamed himself," Oswald informed.

"Poor Chrono. We'll have to apologize to him when we see him again." Florian felt guilty, especially knowing how delicate and low Chrono's self-esteem was.

"Yeah. It's not Chrono's fault that things in the Realm of Darkness happened the way they did."

"We've gotten three of the Star Fragments now, right? So that means there's only two left to gather," Oswald reminded.

Lucille nodded and took out the last remaining two memory cards. "All that leaves now is Hallow Bastion and Twilight Town."

"Those were the last two worlds we visited, so it makes sense they'd be the final two cards." Oswald nodded.

"I'm a little nervous about going to Hallow Bastion. Even if it's just a memory world...that twisted mockery of Radiant Garden still leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"Oh yeah...that's a painful memory for you. No, not just you-Aster, Ion, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie and Cid. They all have bad memories of Hallow Bastion too." Lucille frowned sadly.

Zen nodded. "It's okay. I know that the real one is freed from the darkness and Maleficent's control."

"Better keep our guard up, though. We have no idea what to expect when we enter it," Gula warned.

"After what happened in the Labyrinth of Memories, this should be a cakewalk," Lucille joked.

"I kinda wish I was there to see it for myself." Oswald noted.

"Oh no you wouldn't. There were giant vicious Heartless EVERYWHERE! And there were these traps and illusions and this REALLY giant scary octopus shell-cladded Heartless that possessed the Warp Mirror and-!" Quartz warned.

"I think he gets the idea. Calm down, you spaz." Zen clamped Quartz's mouth shut.

"Still, to think that this Labyrinth of Memories was actually once half of a kingdom that existed during the Era of Fairytales. For a seeker of ancient knowledge like myself, that's the kinda stuff we risk our lives for."

"I doubt you'd learn that much. When we were there, the most of what we saw was just the remains of ruins and the walls were weird like memories were melding together to make the walls of that labyrinth." Zen shrugged.

"Huh, sounds a little like Memoria-except Memoria isn't a literal prison like you've been telling me. Still...I feel bad for those lost hearts that are still trapped there, though." Oswald crossed his arms.

"Didn't Master Matoya say once that Memoria was an archive of memories for worlds that lost their hearts to the darkness and they could be restored once that world's heart is freed from the Realm of Darkness? What would that make the Labyrinth of Memories?" Florian wondered

 _"As Gula said, it's most likely a graveyard for the memories of the people who lost their hearts in that place. In a morbid sense, it keeps the memories of those people alive, but those that become Heartless or wander that place are probably tormented by those memories,"_ Ava answered.

 _"It's the most logical theory when you take into account that nothing can leave that place once it enters the Labyrinth's domain-unless you use the Warp Mirror like we did,"_ Gula added.

"I still find it hard to accept that the other Seraphim could make such a cruel decision to turn that place into a prison for Heartless knowing that they could have been survivors still." Florian shook his head.

"Florian..."

""Nothing's ever completely black and white, kid. Sometimes, ya gotta make some tough choices that are usually in the moral grey area. I guess they just didn't wanna risk the darkness getting too powerful, and we don't know just how many of those hearts that have been eaten away by the darkness already."

"I know, Master Oswald." Florian sighed. "It just...feels wrong to me."

Oswald smiled and patted the seraph's back. "That just means ya have a kind heart."

"I guess I'm just thinking about what Lord Yggdrasil was thinking at the time. I know he doesn't like mortals-especially humans-that much but..."

"I don't know your leader, but...he doesn't strike me as the type who'd take pleasure in hurting others."

Florian shook his head. "No, he wouldn't do that."

Oswald smirked. "Then you've got your answer then. I'm sure he feels the same way but as a Leader, you're forced to make some hard choices that you have to live with, even if they turn out to be mistakes. My brother and I know this better than most," Oswald wisely stated.

 _"I know how that feels...Even now I wonder about some of the choices I made back then."_ Ava sighed.

 _"No kidding, we're good examples of bad leadership. Out of all of us, though, I think you did the better job, Ava,"_ Gula agreed.

 _"I don't know about that...I feel like I've been used like a puppet with invisible strings attached,"_ Ava stated.

 _"Hmm...I wonder,"_ Gula thought deeply. His suspicion of their Master had always nagged him at the back of his mind. Had he been using them all along? If that was indeed the truth, it was a bitter one to swallow even for him.

"I wonder what this world has in store for us this time around. Wonderland had some kind of mystery going on, Traverse Town-we had to fight a buffed up version of the Heartless we fought back then-and in Olympus Coliseum we had to fight a tournament. Well, I did at least-ya'll ended up getting seraph-napped," Oswald added with a smirk at the end.

"Ugh, don't remind us, Oswald." Lucille groaned.

"I suppose we won't get anywhere just standing here. Time to revisit Hallow Bastion." Lucille approached the door leading to the next floor and took out the card with Hallow Bastion on it. "I don't know what's going on right now...but hang in there, Zero, we're almost there." With that, she raised the card to activate it, opening the doorway to the memory world that laid beyond it.

* * *

When they entered the memory world, the first thing they noticed was something off about the layout of the castle itself when they arrived in the foyer.

"Wait...I don't remember the castle looking anything like this. Wasn't it all twisted and corrupted by the darkness by the time we came here?"

Florian nodded. "Yeah, it's the same for me."

"What do you think, guys?" Lucille turned to ask the others, but the only people she saw there was Ava and Florian.

"Huh?! Zen? Oswald? Gula? Quartz?" Lucille panicked and looked around hoping to find the other three nearby.

"They're gone! But they were just there just a moment ago!" Florian jumped back in horror.

"Oh no...I can't sense Gula at all. Something's not right with this world." Ava looked around frantically.

"I'm sure he's okay, Ava. He and Zen are together. Even if Zen loathes it, wherever Zen is, Gula will be there too," Lucille tried to calm down the Foreteller.

Ava sighed and gave a small smile. "Thank you, Lucille. I'm sure you're right and they're safe. But...what's going on? Why are we the only ones here?"

"There's also something odd about this castle. It doesn't feel like the same one we visited."

"True. Almost like we're in someone else's memory of this world." Ava nodded in agreement.

They heard some quiet shuffling from above the twin staircase, and Lucille treaded carefully up the steps to see what the source of that noise was.

"Is...someone there?" Lucille hesitantly spoke up. She took a few more steps up until she saw who it was. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes before checking again.

"What did you find?" Florian curiously called out.

"Uhh...either I'm seeing things or...I think I've just found Zen. But...he's...changed," Lucille answered back, still not believing what she was seeing.

In front of her was indeed Zen...but this Zen was not the one she knew. This one was ten years younger and looked like a scared deer caught in headlights.

* * *

"Zen! Zen, can you hear me? Say something!" Oswald's panicked cries filled the room as Zen lay unconscious on the ground

"Zen! Please, wake up! Say something! What happened just then? There was a bright light and then we got pushed back and then-"

"Calm down, Quartz. We'll get to the bottom of this. Hey Gula, are you there?" Oswald called out to Gula, who hopefully was still there but got no response at all. His worst fear was realized.

"Oh man, this is terrible! Gula's gone too! Just what happened? That's never happened before..." Oswald started to speculate for answers.

"He'll be okay, right? He's just sleeping, right?" Quartz started to become even more frantic. "And what about Lucille and the others? Will they be okay without us?"

"Don't you worry about those three. They can take care of themselves. I'm sure Gula is with-"

It was then they heard footsteps coming from the floor above them and they were getting closer.

Believing it was Marluxia, Oswald armed himself ready with keyblade in hand. "Quartz...if something happens to me, guard Zen's body with your life.

Quartz silently nodded and armed himself, ready to defend if needed.

The footsteps got closer and Oswald braced himself for combat. When the doors opened, much to the rabbit's surprise, it wasn't Marluxia at all.

"Wait...aren't you...Riku?"

"Long time no see, your highness." Riku bowed respectfully.

"Okay, first off, don't call me Prince when we're nowhere near my home right now. I'm just Oswald here, kiddo. And what is with the getup that you're wearing? You look like one of those yahoos from that Organization." Oswald corrected him as he dismissed his keyblade and Quartz unarmed himself as well.

"Well..." Riku scratched his head nervously. How was he going to explain this?

"Oh god, don't tell me you joined them! Lucille will be so disappointed in you." Oswald gasped.

"What? No!" Riku cried out. "It's a long story, but please believe me-I'd never do anything to hurt Lucille. You know that."

Oswald stared at Riku to judge him before sighing. "I do believe you, kid. Lucille really cares about ya. She's been worried sick about you this whole time. I won't forgive ya if you make her sad again, you got that, kid?"

"Lucille was worried about me?" Riku repeated.

"Of course she was! You're important to her just like Sora and Kairi are! You really think she wouldn't care about you just because ya got tricked? Why do you think she stayed behind with you and King Mickey?" Oswald scolded lightly.

"It was more serious than that, your high-I mean, Master Oswald," Riku caught himself before he slipped the royal title again. "But I'm glad that Lucille hasn't changed one bit. That's definitely something both her and Sora share," Riku added. Inwardly, his heart felt a little lighter hearing that Lucille still thinks of him as her best friend. One of his worst fears was that he might have ruined his friendship with Lucille after everything he had done.

Even if it started with good intentions, it turned into a huge mess and he was the bigger fool for falling for such a lie. He had even tried to force her and Florian apart by forcing the Seraphim Pact to sever by force, thinking it would have saved her from becoming an empty shell like Kairi had been when she had lost her heart. In truth, though, he had almost killed not just one but two of his most cherished friends in his arrogance, and he would never forgive himself for that.

It was then that he noticed that only Oswald, but a Nobody in white and Zen's unconscious body were present in the room. "Wait! Where is Lucille and Florian? They're usually tied to the hip," Riku asked with slight worry. "And what happened to Zen? Is he hurt?" Riku approached Zen's body carefully to try and assess the problem.

"Ya guess is as good as mine. I don't know what happened to my partner! We were heading to the memory world of Hallow Bastion but then-"

"Hallow Bastion? Hold on." Riku's eyes narrowed and he quickly got up and went back up the stairs in a rush.

Oswald looked confused, but he soon discovered why Riku went back to the upper floor when he brought back down someone he'd never expect to see together with Riku.

"Zero?! How did you get away from Marluxia? Wait! You aren't still under his control with that protocol thing, right?"

Zero shook his head. "The recall protocol seems to have a limited effect on me. It was probably why Vexen never instilled this protocol into his future replicas. He must have deemed it a failure, and I'm the proof of that."

"So you...remember everything, right? You know, before Marluxia..." Quartz started.

Zero nodded. "Yes...don't worry. He no longer has control over me, thankfully. Riku saved me from my captor. Also, I owe you all an apology. I never intended for things to get so out of control. I never expected to see my own nightmare manifest itself into a force hell-bent on keeping this dream from fading."

"Yay! I'm so happy you're back to your normal self, Zero! You were really scary being all brainwashed and stuff by that Marluxia guy." Quartz tackled hugged Zero.

Zero was unsure how to respond, but he felt the right response was to return the hug. "I'm sorry for worrying all of you. I never meant for things to go so wrong. This was not how I planned this at all."

"But how did you get your memory back? I thought that recall protocol thing sealed all your memories and you were, you know..."

"It's a complicated tale. Like I said, Vexen deemed that protocol a failure for a reason. It must be because it didn't have the intended effect that he was hoping for."

"In other words, the protocol wasn't as dangerous as we first believed when we found the reports and theory data on it," Riku added.

"Oooh...Um...you are you again?"

"That should be my question. Who the heck are you? Are you a secret spy for the Organization?" Riku narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"No no no! I'm not with those guys at all! They're scary and mean!"

"Relax, Riku. This is Quartz. He's a Nobody, but he's totally not with the Organization. In fact he's being chased by them."

"Is that true?"

Quartz nodded. "So you're this Riku that Lucille always talks about. My name is Quartz. Nice to meet you! Please don't kill me."

"...Is he...always like this?" Riku turned to Oswald.

"Oh yeah. He's...unique for a Nobody." Oswald nodded slowly. "Anyway, what we were told by Ratatosk was true then. We really are all in one giant dream that you created with the help of a Lady Medea, right?" Oswald crossed his arms.

"You know about Lady Medea?! No, perhaps it might have been better from the start if I had been honest. I promise I will explain everything once we gather the five star fragments. The truth you will find inside will give you answers you need-the truth that...I was too much of a coward to confess myself." Zero sighed in defeat.

"Save that for later. Something's wrong with this guy. I don't think he's even breathing," Riku interrupted.

Zero approached and carefully looked over Zen's body. "No, he's still alive, and nothing's wrong with him physically. But I can't sense his heart at all, that...isn't normal."

"You're telling me…Lucille and the others are still inside that memory world all alone without us there! Not to mention my buddy had his heart spirited away, apparently!"

"Wait...Could it be...? Oh no...I think I made a terrible error with the Hallow Bastion card."

"Wait...what error?" Riku pressed, his body tensed for any bad news that Zero would reveal.

"It would take too long to explain, but the important thing to know is that we're not dealing with just Lucille's memories. I might have accidentally pulled memories of the same world from someone else. The two memories would clash because they come from different time eras. You can't have the past and future at the same time, after all."

"Not unless your world was made up like Memoria was..." Oswald nodded. "Wait a minute...what about sealed memories? You know, if, say, a Seraph sealed away a certain group of memories within the depths of that person's heart?" Oswald became alert again when he realized that if Zero had taken a memory from Zen's past into that memory card he gave to Lucille, he could have bypassed Ion's artes by accident.

Zero sounded horrified at this. "Did you say sealed memories?"

"Is that bad?"

"Oh no...what if...I might have pulled a memory that wasn't suppose to be messed with. Lucille and even Zen could be in danger right now! We've got to get in there!"

"No, it would be risky if all of us went. Zero, you stay with Oswald and help Zen however you can. I'll go and find them."

"But how? You don't even have a memory card like they do," Oswald asked.

"I can take you there," Zero revealed. "But...I won't be able to get you back out once you're inside that memory world. You'll have to find Lucille to escape it," Zero warned.

Riku nodded. "That's fine. I wasn't planning on leaving without her anyway. She stayed behind at the door to help me and King Mickey. She never abandoned us. Never abandoned me even after all I had done to her and Sora. So this time, I'll be the one who stays with her-no matter what. I'll never betray that trust again."

"Hoo boy. You boys got it bad. I suppose that's something ya both have in common." Oswald sighed with an all-knowing smile.

Riku looked confused, but Oswald shook his head. "Never mind! Ya better keep your word and keep that gal and our pals safe, got it?"

Riku nodded. "Got it, Master Oswald. As much as I really don't like this guy, I don't want Lucille to be sad over him, so I'll do what I can to find out where Zen is in that memory world and bring him back."

Zero nodded. "I don't want Zen to suffer for my mistake, but I don't want you to get hurt too. So don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

Riku softly smiled. "Heh, you claim that you're nothing like him but...in a way...you really do remind me of him even when you're not trying."

"Eh?" Zero sounded surprised.

"Master Oswald, don't let that pink-haired psycho get a hold of Zero again. He's important to saving Sora."

Oswald proudly puffed his chest. "Who do you think ya talkin' too? I'm Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! Nobody gets the better of me!"

"Right, the King mentioned you were...uhh...quite the character."

"Mick said what about me?! Ooh, that Mouse! If he wasn't my younger brother, I'd-!" Oswald ranted.

"Wait! I want to come too! I'm really worried about them and I can't stay here doing nothing." Quartz quickly got up and ran to Riku.

"You? Can you even fight?"

"How rude! I can totally fight! I just...don't like fighting since it involves hurting others, that's all. I only fight to protect others from being hurt, that's all. " Quartz huffed.

"Take him with ya, Riku. He might not look it, but his powers will be really helpful. You'll find out soon enough."

Quartz nodded eagerly. "I can make crystallized light! I think it's also called lux but that's not important. I don't know why...but apparently that's my thing as a Nobody. I don't even know if there's a right way for me to use it. But...I want to use it to help others, especially my friends."

"Crystallized light? Is that even possible?" Riku sighed. "Fine...Since you're a friend of Lucille's, I'll trust you."

"Thank you! Together I know we'll find them in no time!" Quartz beamed.

Zero replicated the exact same memory card that he gave to Lucille, although unlike Lucille's, this was a one-way ticket-only Lucille's card had the ability to return. He then handed the card to Riku. "Good luck, you two."

* * *

Back in the memory of Hallow Bastion, Florian and Ava ran up the staircase to see what Lucille meant. What they saw shocked them as well.

They were looking at a much younger Zen-ten years younger, to be exact. And unlike the present Zen, this one was shaking like a leaf.

"Zen?" Florian blinked.

"W-who are you? How did you know my name?" A timid voice came out from young Zen's mouth.

"Oh...My...Gosh. He's so cute! Look at his wittle cheeks~! They look so squishy~" Lucille cooed and started to affectionately pinch the child's cheeks.

"H-hey! Cut that out!" Zen's quickly retorted as he swatted the white-robed Nobody's hands away.

"You're a little cutie." Lucille smiled. 'Hard to believe this kid grows up to be the sarcastic secret bookworm nerd we know today,' she then mentally noted to herself.

"You're a bookworm as well, you know," Ava laughed, voicing Lucille's thoughts out loud.

"And proud of it!" Lucille puffed her chest with pride.

Zen blushed lightly at the compliment. It was the first time that a girl other than Kairi had said he looked 'cute'.

"Wait, why is Zen's five year old self here? Where's the real Zen and Mr. Oswald?" Florian wondered.

"Maybe it has something to do with the world that we're in," Ava wondered.

"Do you know where we are, little guy?" Lucille questioned.

"Of course. You're inside Lord Ansem's castle, duh," Zen answered as if it was the most obvious question in the world.

"Lord Ansem's castle? Wait, that means in this memory world it hasn't become Hallow Bastion yet!" Lucille whispered to the others so Zen wouldn't overhear their conversation.

"So this must be when it was still Radiant Garden before the Heartless came," Ava whispered back.

"But that would mean this is Zen's memory of Radiant Garden. How did we end up in Zen's memory? I thought Zero only replicated Lucille's memories and put them into memory cards." Florian was puzzled.

"I don't know...for now we should play along, though. I don't feel right about exploring memories that aren't even my own, but we can't just tell this kid that this whole place is an illusion."

"Um...hello?" Zen called out.

"Ah, sorry! So, Zen, right? My name is Lucille, and this is Master Ava and Florian, my friends."

"Strange...those names sound...familiar." Zen frowned in confusion at the strange sense of nostalgia he felt.

Lucille smiled. "We've met before."

"We have? When?" Zen tilted his head.

"Lucille, don't you even think about it." Ava placed her hands on her hips.

"...Heh heh" Lucille waved carefreely at Ava, letting her know she wouldn't.

"Well...it's complicated. Let's not worry about that for now. Why are you here all alone?"

"I...don't know. I just woke up here in the foyer. I tried looking around for Aster, Kairi, Grandma, Ion or even Lord Ansem. I even tried looking for Sir Aeleus and Sir Dilian, but there's no one here..."

Ava looked around and felt the emptiness of this world. "Zen's right. There's literally no one here at all. Almost like...we're the only ones here."

"But then...where's the others? Oh no! They didn't get lost in the castle, did they?" Lucille panicked.

Florian shook his head. "I think Mr. Oswald and the Zen we know are outside the memory world. Just a feeling I have. There's something very odd about this world." Florian crossed his arms.

"This world feels so lonely. I wonder...could this be..." Lucille started to figure and put the puzzle pieces in place in her head. She lost her train of thought when she felt a small hand cling to her jacket.

"I don't like it here. It feels wrong," Zen admitted and started shiver.

'Wow, Aster and Ion weren't kidding. Zen was completely different as a kid. I don't know this Zen at all. It's like they're two completely different people and yet...' Lucille bent down and gave the younger Zen a warm smile while taking a hold of his clingy hand.

"You'll be okay. We're looking for our friends too. So we'll look together."

"Really? You don't mind being around an outsider like me?" Zen looked surprised by this.

"Of course not. I'm an outsider too." Lucille winked. "So we outsiders have to stick together, don't you think?

Zen's smile brightened and nodded. "Yeah!"

"Aw, doesn't he look the cutest when he's not scowling and glaring?" Lucille swooned.

"If our Zen was here, you would never hear the end of it." Florian sweat-dropped.

"I know. Just let me have this moment while he's not around," Lucille nudged.

"Well...we won't get to the bottom of this mystery just standing here. We should try going further in the castle," Ava recommended.

Lucille nodded and turned to Zen. "Just stay close to us, okay?"

Zen nodded meekly. "Okay." He then gently gripped the edge of her jacket again.

"I just hope the others are alright...wherever they are." Lucille frowned in concern for the safety of Oswald and their 'Zen', but they entered through the foyer's doors into the castle itself.

* * *

Lucille had to admit.-Hallow Bastion-or rather Radiant Garden's-castle was really beautiful when it wasn't twisted and corrupted by the darkness. Everything looked so elegant and grand but had a strange tinge of a steampunk theme as well.

They were relying on little Zen's guidance, as he knew this castle's layout like an open book.

"You're really good at navigating through this place. Do you spend most of your time here?"

"..." Zen didn't say anything, but he nodded. "I...don't go outside that much. I don't feel safe out there. The people always look at me strangely. I think it's because I wasn't really born here. I don't get it. Why are people afraid of me?"

"Zen..."

"Oh! This is the library! This is where I spend a lot of my time." Zen pointed excitedly at the elaborate door that led into the castle's library.

"Oh, do you like reading books? Lucille here likes reading too." Florian smiled as he added that little detail. Even though they already knew the Zen they know was quite the avid reader like Lucille, little Zen didn't know that yet.

"Florian!"

"Really?"

Lucille blushed lightly and admitted, "Yeah...when I was younger, I was pretty frail and got sick often so I couldn't go outside and play like other kids. I spent most of those years just reading books. Over time, it just became natural to me. I even found books as a way to escape from my troubles."

"Were you lonely?" Zen asked.

Lucille thought for a moment before answering. "Well...My brother and his best friend would come by and spend time with me in my room whenever they came back from playing outside. It might seem like a small thing to most people but to me...I was really happy when they did come to see me. There were times when I really felt lonely but it was always on those days I felt the most lonely that my brother and his friends would come and cheer me up. It's like they somehow knew that I was sad and wanted to make me feel better."

"That...sounds similar to Aster and Ion, especially Aster; he always seems to know when I feel sad and tries to cheer me up," Zen noted.

"You really like Aster, don't you?" Lucille grinned.

Zen looked down to the ground and lightly kicked at the floor below him. "Yeah...I don't know why Aster likes me, though. I was really mean to him at first. I thought he'd tease and bully me like the other kids, so I ignored him and pushed him away whenever he tried to get close."

"And he still tried to be friends with you even after that?" Ava was in awe.

Zen nodded silently. "I was afraid that if I got too close to someone they'd end up disappearing too. Maybe that's why I can't find anyone here now. Maybe I'm cursed..."

"Zen, that's not-"

Ava stopped her mid-way and shook her head. Lucille got the message and didn't say anymore.

"Anyways, maybe we'll find our friends in this library. What do you think?" Ava wondered. "That sounds like a likely rendezvous point if we were trying to regroup."

Florian tried to see if he could feel sources of light beyond the door. What he felt instead made his skin crawl. "Um...guys...we shouldn't open this door."

Lucille grew concerned at Florian's tensed up body. "Flo, is something wrong?" Lucille asked.

"I...I could be wrong but...I think that there's..."

"Is someone in there? Is it Aster?" Zen eagerly went over and started to turn the handle.

"Zen, no! Don't open that-!" Florian gasped and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Zen opened the library doors wide open, but what they saw wasn't what they were expecting.

It looked like Zen as they knew him, but all three of them could tell that this wasn't their friend. It was someone else who wore his face. One of the telling signs was that his eyes had cat-like pupils and gleamed golden just like the Heartless.

"Is that...a darkling?" Ava slowly came to realization.

"A darkling?" Lucille repeated.

"I never heard of them either. Is that another kind of Heartless?"

"You could say that. They are Heartless that are born from fallen Keyblade wielders."

"What?! That loser that has Zen's face was once a keyblade wielder?!"

"Well, well, foxgirl got it in one go. Colour me surprised," the stranger in front of them mocked as he clapped in a sarcastic manner towards Ava. "Technically, though, I'm not a real darkling, but I'm close enough to that description that I suppose you could call me one. Truth is I'm just the physical manifestation of darkness of the one you call Gula. However, since his heart has joined to that little twerp over there, I took on the boy's appearance instead of Gula's."

"W-where is Gula? What did you do to him?!" Ava demanded.

"Nothing. He's somewhere in this fabricated world, too. I can sense him. I'm just part of this memory world-an illusion, after all. I was given form by the darkness that covers this memory world. So I don't really 'exist'."

Ava sighed in relief.

"Now then, if we're done with our little question game, I'd like you to hand over the twerp to me." The Darkling extended his hand towards the young boy, but young Zen shrank even further back.

"Why the heck would we do that? You must be out of your mind!" Lucille snapped.

"Because I believe I have something that you need. Looking for this?" The darkling held out a familiar glimmering object in his hand.

"The star fragment!"

"Right. You see, I stumbled on this little thing and thought of you lot since you've been struggling ever so hard to gather all five of these. You have three now, right? You could add four to that collection right now if you do what I say."

"How do you know all this? You were listening to everything?" Florian realized.

"I'm still part of Gula even if I'm just an illusion like everything else here-whatever Gula knows I know. It's that simple."

Lucille glared. "Yeah, right. If you think I'm so shallow that I would trade one of my friends over for a piece of fragmented star rock, you don't know me at all!" Lucille shot down instantly.

"Heh heh. Oh, don't worry, I already knew what your answer would be. I just thought it would be amusing to see your reaction."

"Tell me something-why do you want this child? It seems like a strange request to ask from a darkling of all things," Ava asked.

"You have no idea what you have right there, do you? Zen has been with you from the very start. He's right _there_." The darkling sneered and pointed directly to the young Zen that was hiding behind Lucille's leg.

"What...?" Florian looked back and forth between both the darkling and young Zen.

"I could go into detail about it, but what would be the fun in telling you?"

"It doesn't matter. You're not getting him! And we'll get that star fragment by our own effort. We certainly won't make any deals with you," Lucille fought.

"Well, I tried peaceful negotiations, but it looks like I have no choice but to get my hands dirty, after all." Gula's personified darkness called forth what looked like a darker version of Gula's keyblade. And he didn't even waste a second as he dashed forward too fast that Lucille barely managed to block the blow with her Lux Arma blade and was thrown back harshly.

Young Zen gasped and tried to rush over to Lucille's side but he was caught by Dark Gula.

"Let me go!" Zen tried to pull away from the dark being's grip but it held a firm grip over him.

"I don't think so. We've got someplace to go, and you're the vital piece I need. It's time for you to face your fears, little boy."

"No! Someone please help! Aster! Ion! Lord Ansem! GULA!"

"Gula? How does he know Gula at this point?" Florian realized.

"Shut up!" Dark Gula hissed and was about slap Zen until a flash of yellow and white zipped past, taking Zen and even using their own keyblade to cut off the arm that held the dark keyblade.

"Grah! Why you-! How did you track us down?"

They could finally see who it was that came to the rescue, and it was a welcomed sight.

"Gula!" Ava happily announced.

"Finally, I found you guys. You were really difficult to find, you know." Gula gave a lopsided smile. He held Zen in one arm while pointing his keyblade at the enemy.

"Oh, don't give us that. You're the one that disappeared on us!" Lucille barked.

"Yeah, sorry. It looks like this Hallow Bastion isn't anything what we expected it to be. I did some digging around, and I think I figured out what went wrong. We'll talk about it when we're far away from this...thing."

"Gula! You came back! Where did you go?" Zen sobbed, wrapping his arms around Gula's neck.

"I'm glad you're okay, Zen. Sorry it took me so long to find you in this place." Gula smiled to comfort the frightened child before glaring at the darker half of himself. "I don't care if you're an illusion or not. By the end of this, you'll be erased along with this messed up world."

"Hahahaha! That's rich coming from the guy whom I originated from." Dark Gula laughed loudly as if he heard a good joke. "I was born from your heart-or what's left of it, anyway. All that time you spent wandering the Realm of Darkness fed off your misery and despair and thus gave me a greater presence in your heart. If it wasn't for that little brat, you'd be completely taken by the darkness and I would have had a body of my own."

"Well, good thing that never happened," Gula retorted. "Besides, you said yourself you don't even exist right now. You're just an illusion created by this memory world."

"Hmph, be that as it may, I can make myself real. All I need is a body to escape this place."

"Well, good luck waiting an eternity for one because I won't let you get anywhere near Zen and I. Since you are essentially my darkness, it's my responsibility to keep you trapped there."

"Oh, don't think for a second that this game is over. It's only just beginning." Dark Gula gave an ominous threat as he snapped his fingers and summoned multiple Heartless.

"What? But Heartless can't appear in these worlds!" Florian quickly summoned his paper charms, ready for combat.

"Well, duh, they came from me. Using my own darkness to lure Heartless is a convenient loophole, don't you think? The Heartless aren't very smart. They can't tell the difference between a fabricated darkness and real darkness. It's all the same to these lower creatures."

"Are you alright, Lucille?" Gula turned to the brunette.

Lucille quickly got up and brushed herself off. "I'll live. You know, for your darker half, he's pretty darn fast."

"Yeeeaaah...chances are he's probably copied everything about me-from my speed to how to fight. He's my shadow, after all," Gula admitted.

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Lucille sarcastically sighed.

"We can't fight here. This room is too narrow. We need to regroup," Gula told the others.

"Oh, you won't be getting away. You're in my world now, and here is where you'll stay!" Dark Gula smirked victoriously and was about to order the Heartless to attack until a bright light engulfed the room, blinding their enemies. The insect-like Heartless evaporated in the light and Lucille felt something or someone pull on her arm. "Now what?!" Dark Gula snapped as he was blinded by the light.

"Lucille! This way, hurry! I know somewhere that we can use as a safe room in this world." Lucille recognized that voice instantly.

"Riku?" Lucille didn't get an answer nor could she see the person because of the light clouding their vision as she was pulled along. "Whoa!"

"Don't worry, everyone! We're here to rescue you all!" Another familiar voice chirped in.

"That voice? Quartz?" Ava realized.

"Yup! C'mon, quick! That spell I used is gonna wear off soon," Quartz confirmed and motioned them to follow. They didn't waste any time to question it as they followed their 'saviors' away from the library.

Once the light had dimmed and Dark Gula could see again, everyone had disappeared and his Heartless minions he had summoned were eradicated by the light. "Fine...you can run and hide all you like. Eventually you'll all come to me. I'll be ready for you-you can count on that."

* * *

Meanwhile, Chi, Axel, Ciela and Lumen had finally found an exit out of the dream world and popped out safely with ease.

For Axel it was a weird experience, as soon as they exited the dreamscape, the next thing Axel knew was that he was opening his eyes, finding himself on the floor, where he must have went unconscious. So he really had fallen into same trap as the kids. That hurt his pride as a member of the Organization.

"Mr. Axel! I'm glad that you're awake. Are we...in the real world now? Like the real Castle Oblivion?" Lumen wondered.

Axel got up from the ground and stretched his body first before answering Lumen. "One way to find out, kiddo," Axel tried to summon a corridor of darkness which worked easily and appeared just as Axel hoped. "Oh yeah, we're back, baby." Axel smirked victoriously as he dismissed the portal.

"Where did we exit to, though? This doesn't look like the ground floor." Ciela commented.

Chi gasped when she looked behind her. "Oh, my stars! Guys, look! It's Lady Lucille and everyone!" Chi cried out.

They all turned to see what Chi had seen and, indeed, Lucille and everyone's sleeping forms besides from Zen and Oswald were resting inside the giant glass eggs that looked exactly like the ones Sora and his friends were in.

"What the? We're on the thirteenth floor? That means we must have just popped out right at the top of Castle Oblivion." Axel noted. "Hey wait a minute! Was I the **only** one who didn't get a pod of my own?! Ouch..." Axel then blurted out when he realized everyone else was inside those pods while he was left on the ground nearby.

"It's as I expected. Master Oswald and his friend Zen entered the dream world fully awake using a loophole through the Realm of Sleeping Worlds, which is no different than the Realm of Dreams itself. That's dangerous, especially if some nefarious fiend wanted to take advantage and try to possess their bodies. That could cause something dangerous from the sleeping worlds to enter the real world through their bodies." Ciela grew concerned.

"Eh? Are you talking about Marluxia? I dunno, his tastes have always been weird, but I'm not sure if he'd want the body of a girl-or a little kid, for that matter...or the space case Nobody." Axel scratched his head. "I could see him trying to possess that Zen guy, though, since he already has that Heartless claw arm to contend with."

"Oh, Lady Lucille! Master Ava! Don't you worry-I'll save you both somehow!" Chi cried pitifully as she tried to hug the glass egg, but her paws were so stubby and small that she didn't have much luck.

"How are you going to do that, furball? We don't even know how they ended up like this in the first place." Axel sighed loudly.

"I-I'll think of something, okay?!" Chi retorted as she sobbed.

"Um, excuse me? Who are you?" Namine's gentle voice called out from behind.

"Oh! Miss Namine!" Chi recognized.

"Oh, it's you, Chi! Why are you back in the real Castle Oblivion?" Namine smiled kindly at the small Dream Eater.

"Waaah! Miss Namine, what's going on? Why is Lady Lucille and the others inside those glass eggs? How did they get here all the way from the ground floor?"

"I...honestly don't know. I had trouble trying to find out what happened that plunged them all into that giant dream world of Castle Oblivion. Whoever wove that dream world into existence must have truly been powerful." Namine shook her head. "All I could do was try and help them to escape, but I have no power over Lucille's memories. Zero's the only one with that capability."

"So...Zero's the key to all this, huh?" Axel became thoughtful.

"It must have been Lady Medea who created the illusionary dream world using the seraphic artes already around the real castle. But why would she do something like this? I know her; she'd never do anything like this without good reason," Ciela told everyone.

"Would you like to know the truth...? It might not be easy for everyone to hear," a new voice echoed not far from them. They all turned to see a beautiful woman appear before them.

She had the appearance of a young mature woman who seemed to carry an aura of being wiser beyond her years.

She had long silky dark purple hair braided neatly over her shoulder and honey-brown eyes. Her clothes were similar to a sorceress' attire. She had a long-sleeved royal blue sorceress robe with a leg parting that exposed her leg a little, but she wore dark blue pants underneath the dress-she was a woman of modesty, after all.

She also wore brown mage boots and fingerless gloves that reached up to her elbows. Finally, she had a wizard hat with a bent tip and a long circle rim.

"Lady Medea!" Ciela zoomed quickly to her side.

"Ciela, my dear friend. I'm pleased to see you are alright."

"Lady Medea, is it true that it was you who created that dream world of Castle Oblivion and brought Lucille and her friends there in the first place?" Ciela beseeched.

"...It's true. Believe me, though, it was with good intentions. I never intended to leave them inside there." Medea's smile faded and admitted the truth.

"Good intentions? We just had to fend for our lives not long ago. That dream is no pleasant one, I can assure you."

"No, it was not meant to get this out of control. Something that neither Zero and I ever anticipated invaded it with the intent of turning that dream into a nightmare for your friends. That creature also intends to try and breach the dream world and enter the real world by possessing one of their bodies. I do not know which one it has its sights on, however." Medea shook her head.

"Alright, riddle me this then, lady: Is that element you never anticipated that Memory Marluxia?"

Medea shook her head. "It only looks like the one called Marluxia, but that is only a disguise to torment Zero since it knew Zero was often bullied by the Nobodies that once stationed themselves here."

"Right, Marluxia and Larxene, huh?" Axel nodded.

"But...if that is not really Marluxia then who is he really?" Namine wondered.

Medea sighed. "I will tell you. I'm afraid...none of it will be pleasant to hear. Bring the ones called Diz and King Mickey here. They must hear this as well. It is for the sake of everyone that you must know what's going on. Sora's life is endangered right now, and if you want to save him you must know the truth about why I created that dream world in the first place and...the truth about Zero, too."

* * *

Alright done! I was going to do this as one big chapter but the chapter turned out to be much more bigger than I anticipated. So I decided to split into two parts again. Sorry. XD

Hopefully Part II won't take too long to complete since I was starting on the second half when I decided that the chapter would end up being way too big on it's own. So I decided to divide into two parts to make it easy for people to digest reading the chapter. XD

Anyways, I apologize for the long wait, I went on holiday for a week to Disneyland Paris and then ended up in a writing slump not sure how I wanted to continue. As you can see though, I finally got around to finishing it, well the first part anyway. XD

Anyways, on to review corner! =3

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Chirithy564:** Awww it's okay. XD I can relate, a lot of things can suddenly come up and you don't have time to do things. Like in my case, getting in the right mind-set and time to write out fan fics since real life collides alot. XD

I'm really glad you're enjoying the story though and I hope you continue to do so for the future chapters and arcs to come. =3 Looking forward to finally getting my hands on the KH2 arc. That's gonna be fuuuunn~ XD

 **Gry21:** True, but like I said, I'll need to research to see how I can fit in to the narrative. =D

 **Guest:** Indeed. There's plenty more secret episodes to come. =3 I'm thinking of probably doing some short stories for certain characters but I'll wait til a little further down the timeline before starting on them. =3

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted and even read this story so far. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story as it continues! =3

On that note, until the second part of this chapter. Happy reading folks! Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	10. Chapter 9: Once Upon A Memory (Part II)

**Episode 9: Once Upon A Memory (Part II)**

* * *

Eventually, they found a safe location in the form of a some kind of bedroom.

"Whew! Safe! Oh man, that was scary. I almost fainted! Almost." Quartz sighed in relief.

"Heh, who knew that bubble-head would save us? My pride as a Foreteller is damaged now," Gula teased.

"Heeey..." Quartz sniffed.

"You're both lifesavers, thanks. We were kinda unprepared and would have been in big trouble if you guys hadn't shown up." Lucille thanked the pale greenette before turning to the hooded boy who had his hood up the whole time they had been running.

"Aw shucks, it was no biggie. Besides, I was really worried about you guys! You just suddenly disappeared and we got kicked out by that world and-" Quartz started to ramble until he noticed Lucille had turned to Riku.

"Riku...that's you, isn't it?" Lucille asked hopefully.

He sighed and pulled his hood down. "I never could fool you."

"It is you!" Lucille beamed and hugged her best friend tightly. Riku was unsure how to react but he didn't need to since Lucille let go and then slapped his face.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"What do you think?! I was so worried about you and King Mickey! Do you have any idea what we've been through? We were being hunted by some red-haired pyromaniac who's leader is some heart-obsessed freak who wanted to capture Quartz for something bad, and then I find out that my brother had almost been BRAINWASHED by some pink-haired psychopath who bullied Namine into messing with his memories. And don't think I've forgotten that you threw me through that door back on the islands, you jerk!"

"Okay, that part I still have no idea about," Riku corrected.

"But Riku, we saw you do it. I'll admit you did seem a little out of it. It was as if you didn't seem to recognize Lucille at all," Florian recalled

"Really? Wait...don't tell me that Ansem's influence went as far back as..." Riku came to a daunting realization. "Damn it...Was I that weak that I let that happen even back then?" He cursed to himself.

He saw Lucille's body shake and quiet sobs coming from her. When he looked down to see her face, he noticed she was crying.

"I was really worried about you. Why didn't you say anything or show yourself if you were inside the castle the entire time? You didn't think I'd care if anything happened to you or if you had remained trapped in the Realm of Darkness? I didn't want to think that you were under the control of that Marluxia guy or anyone else, for that matter. I was looking everywhere for you as well as Sora and Kairi, but whenever we finally find each other, you keep trying to keep me out of danger or we get separated again by some force. I didn't want you to suddenly disappear on me again. Don't try to do everything on your own. I can help too! I'm not weak anymore, so stop treating me as if I'm some porcelain doll!"

"..."

"Wow, she really had some pent up anger, didn't she?" Gula whistled.

"Gula! Not now." Ava gently slapped Gula's arm to scold him.

"I'm sorry, Lucille. All I ever seem to do lately is make you cry. Believe me, though, if I had known you were in the castle, Mickey and I would have come back much sooner. We didn't know you were there until Diz sent us a message to come back." Riku did his best to try and dry her eyes.

"Diz?" Lucille sniffed.

"Long story. We knew Zero was the key to finding you and helping Sora so we were ordered to bring him back. We found your sleeping forms and brought them to the thirteenth floor, where we knew they would be safe but you were still trapped in the dream world you were plunged into, and only Zero knew how to get you out."

"Really? That's what happened?" Lucille blinked.

Riku nodded. "It's a bit more complicated, but that's the gist of what's happening in the real Castle Oblivion right now. We didn't realize this dream world of Castle Oblivion was going to be this vast, though, so it took a while to finally locate you."

Lucille looked down. "I'm sorry. I guess I have no right to chastise you when I'm the one who's causing you trouble."

Riku shook his head. "I was really worried about you too. It hurt seeing you unconscious like that, not knowing if you'd ever wake up again. I felt like I failed you and Sora all over again, just like how my own arrogance almost cost you your life. All I ever wanted was to protect you, Sora and Kairi, but in the end I became my own worst enemy and almost destroyed what I cherished most. I will always regret what I did back then-to both Sora and you."

"Riku..."

"That's why this time I don't plan on us getting separated again. This time we'll fight and escape together, okay?" Riku smiled softly.

Lucille smiled softly and nodded. "You bet. Don't think for one second you're going to be able to run away again, you jerkface." She lightly joked.

"I know I've already said this once. I owe you an apology too, Florian. I treated you badly and I believed Maleficent's lies about you. I even caused you and Lucille so much pain when I tried to break your pact with each other."

Florian shook his head. "You were lost and didn't know what to do. It was just unfortunate that Maleficent got to you first. And you were just trying to help Lucille and Kairi. I would have done the same if I had been your position." Florian shook his head.

"You're far too nice. I'll admit my instincts told me that you weren't capable of doing something so malicious. I just wished I'd stuck to it." Riku sighed.

"It's in the past now, Riku. We can only learn from our mistakes. Besides, even we Seraphim can make mistakes, you know, so we're not without our faults," Florian told him.

"So...I've been meaning to ask-who are they?" Riku pointed to Ava, Gula and even to the young boy whom Riku still hadn't realized was Zen.

"Oh, right, you never knew about us. I suppose now would be the best time to try and explain." Ava recalled that Riku had no idea about the Foretellers so this was a good opportunity to break the ice with him. After all, he was one of Lucille's closest friends so Ava had known Riku since he was little.

"It's nice to finally speak face to face with you, Riku. I've always appreciated how kind you are to Lucille and how you helped her through her toughest times when she was bed-ridden."

Riku blinked.

"Let me introduce myself-I am Master Ava. I'm one of the Five Foretellers that existed long ago in what people now call the Era of Fairytales. I'm...also technically part of Lucille's heart now, so you could say we're the same person?"

"...What?"

"It's really complicated, but basically Lucille has inherited Ava's power as both a Keyblade wielder and Ava's title as Foreteller. So you could say she's now a Foreteller-in-training, which is kinda the same thing as training to become a Keyblade Master," Gula tried to explain simply.

"Huh, that would explain how Lucille recovered so fast after nearly drowning. It was after that event that Lucille had gotten stronger and healthier," Riku recalled.

Lucille nodded. "Right, it was Ava who helped to make me stronger. You see, when our hearts first merged, it made my heart more weak and vulnerable, and I needed time to get use to Ava's presence within me-My body was affected by that, too."

"So it's your fault that Lucille was so weak when she was younger." Riku glared at Ava.

"Yes. I won't deny or run from that fact. Lucille saved me by allowing our hearts to join as one. I was lost in the Realm of Darkness, on the verge of giving up after fighting so long to keep my heart above the abyss that surrounded me, haunting me with the memories of my past and of the mistakes that I helped make. It was like a poison killing me from the inside. Then Lucille came and pulled me out of that darkness. I would have been lost without her. I owe her everything." Ava bravely faced Riku, standing her ground.

"Riku, if it wasn't for Ava, I probably would have drowned. She was the one who saved me all those years ago," Lucille reasoned.

"She did? How is that-"

"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I took over her body in order to keep her from drowning. I switched her back as soon as she was safely back on the shore," Ava admitted.

"You **what**?!"

"Riku! It's fine. I trust Ava! She's helped more times than I could possibly count! Please don't be angry with her."

Riku kept his anger in check, but he certainly didn't like what he heard.

"I don't blame you, Riku. After what you've been through, it's understandable why you don't like what I did. Believe me, though, I'd never betray Lucille's trust like that."

"No...that's true. You would have done that long ago if you had wanted to. Alright, since Lucille trusts you, I'll try to do that too," Riku sighed.

Ava smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Riku."

"Uh...so...who's the little kid that looks just like Zen? Only like ten years younger?" Quartz pointed curiously to the young boy.

"Oh, right, I should probably tell you about what's going on with this world and why it's so mixed up like it is." Gula nodded.

"Aw, he's so cute! Look at his wittle cheeks~" Quartz cooed, pinching one Zen's cheeks affectionately.

"Stop that! Why does every grown up do that? It's annoying!" Zen huffed and swatted away Quartz's hand.

"Ah, there's the Zen I know," Lucille quietly snickered.

"Okay, so as you've noticed, this memory world is very unlike the ones we've visited before."

"No kidding. This world doesn't make sense. Are these my memories or Zen's? I don't remember the castle looking this normal-well, besides the psychotic darkness embodiment of yours trying to murder us." Lucille folded her arms.

"Ah...yes. I have to apologize for that. I can only assume he must have come from the darkness that I probably generated from my time in the Realm of Darkness. Like Ava, I had wandered in that dark place with no light to be seen. With my body gone, my heart was exposed to the darkness around it. It almost swallowed me. Just when I was about to just let the darkness take me, I finally found a light in that endless darkness."

"That light was Zen, right?" Lucille smiled.

"Don't tell me that guy is a successor to these foretellers too." Riku groaned.

"Too bad for you, because he's my successor." Gula smirked at Riku before continuing, "It was the light coming from a newborn heart. It welcomed me into its light and, considering my choices were either to accept the offer or stay in the Realm of Darkness and become a pawn of darkness, I took my chances with the light."

"And thus you became just like what Master Ava is to Lucille," Florian added.

"Pretty much. Unfortunately, that darkness stayed with me even after I joined with Zen's. Thankfully, it seemed that darkness didn't, or rather, it couldn't move to Zen's heart. It remained trapped with me. So I've managed to cage that darkness to stop it from ever hurting anyone."

"You've found a way to trap your darkness? How did you do it?" Riku became alert at this.

"I figured this would gain your interest since you're trying to keep the darkness in you in check as well, aren't you?"

"..." Riku didn't say anything but his expression confirmed Gula's suspicions. "Well, I don't think you're doing a bad job right now. You're not afraid of it anymore. Now that you've been burned once by that power, you now know your limits. That's the first step," Gula lightly instructed. "You've still got a long way to go, but I've got high hopes for you. I'm sure you'll work the rest out on your own."

"You're...surprisingly insightful." Riku was impressed-he wouldn't lie.

"Gula has always been the smartest of all of us. He always figured things out before any of us did," Ava added.

"Yeah, that didn't mean my logic was flawless, though. Remember my grand mistake of assuming Aced was the traitor? I admit that it bad accusing him. I really didn't want to think any of us could be the traitor but at the time..." Gula recalled.

"Heh heh, Aced would faint if he heard you say that. That almost sounded like an apology from you."

"Harsh, Ava," Gula pouted.

"What's this about a traitor?" Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, don't worry about it. This happened long ago. I wonder if there was even a traitor to begin with," Gula brushed off.

"Anyway, getting back on topic-it seems like Zero might have made a mistake when he created the memory card for this world. Somehow, he managed to also touch Zen's memories and pull one or maybe even two from him due to your heart's connection to him."

"My heart's connection to Zen caused one of his memories to be copied too?" Lucille placed a hand on where her heart was.

"It must have been when we were still trying to find a way to reach you guys when you locked yourselves behind the Door to Darkness with Riku and King Mickey as we weren't there when Zero created those cards. And, ironically enough, it turns out the memory Zero managed to replicate was the same one that Ion sealed away to keep Zen from remembering what happened when he was being experimented on by Xehanort."

"So that's why the castle looks normal. This was before the Heartless attack," Florian clicked.

"But it's not just Zen's memory. Lucille's memory of Hallow Bastion is here too, thus causing a conflict of memories of two different time eras. One comes from the past and the other comes from the future. Worlds like this can't work like Memoria or the Realm of Darkness where time doesn't exist. If this was a real sleeping world then it would be possible the two to exist, but this is a world recreated from person's memory and it can only be used once."

"So you're saying this place is a mix of both Lucille's and Zen's now?"

"Sort of. It's not as simple as that. Zen's memories have more influence than Lucille's since he spent five years of his childhood here, so it won over, but there's still pieces of Lucille's memories scattered around here. That's why some places look normal while other places look exactly like the Hallow Bastion we know."

"I see. So there's probably parts of this world that come from my memory that we haven't seen yet." Lucille seemed to slowly understand why this memory world seemed so disorienting to her.

"And what about this little Zen?" Quartz asked.

"Right, I was about to get to that. This is going to sound really crazy, but I need you all to stay with me here when I say this, okay?" Gula warned.

"Go on. It can't be anymore insane than what we just heard," Riku scoffed.

"You might want to take that back in a second," Gula teased. "You see...that Zen you see over there is our Zen, but his physical and mental state have gone back to when he was five years old before...well...Xehanort got him."

A long period of silence took over as the information sank in. Once it finally did...

"...WHAT?!" Everyone cried out.

"So this is Zen, but he's been regressed back to a five year old?" Lucille tried to process.

"Yup. He won't remember anything that happens in this memory world. This is just a copy of the real memory that's still inside Zen. So what happens in this world stays in this world. Don't worry, he won't remember you pinching his wittle cheeks," Gula teased Quartz at the end.

"Oh, good. I'm pretty sure he would punch my lights out if he knew I had done that." Quartz sighed in relief.

"Although...the heart is a mysterious thing. Zen could be influenced depending on our actions here. That might be why that dark version of me is trying to get Zen. If he can influence Zen's subconscious somehow, he might be able to possess his body back outside in the memory world.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that...Zen's heart and body are separated?" Florian gasped.

"Well...it's not life-threatening. It just means he's sleeping right now just like you guys are-if we are to believe Ratatosk's words."

"So this is Zen's subconscious..." Lucille bent down to look at Zen.

Zen blushed lightly and looked away from Lucille. "Don't stare. It worries me when people do that."

"Oh, sorry. I guess you have to deal with a lot of staring, huh."

"I...really don't understand what's going on. I don't know what that scary person wants with me but...I don't want to go anywhere with him."

"Don't worry, you won't. As long as we're here, we'll clock that poser and throw him back into the darkness," Lucille reassured.

"Ouch...He's technically part of me, you know." Gula cringed.

"But that doesn't explain how this 'dark' version of you is here. He's even wearing Zen's face instead of yours," Riku pointed out.

"We're in a memory world, remember? And this memory was either before or during Xehanort taking full control of the castle and performing his experiments. Somehow he knew I was inside Zen's heart, and he wanted to extract my heart from him. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way he wanted. Zen and I are so interconnected that he couldn't separate us without destroying both of us."

"But he didn't stop there, did he?" Florian grimaced

Gula shook his head. "No, if he couldn't separate us, then he would try to turn Zen into a puppet, a pawn of his to use. That way, he would still get the power of a Foreteller and potentially a spare vessel if he needed one. He somehow found the darkness that I had trapped inside myself and extracted that instead. That darkness turned into the very thing that disfigured Zen's arm."

"That Heartless claw..." Riku realized.

"Yeah, I'm the reason that Zen ended up with that Heartless claw. Since then, Xehanort had forced countless victims upon Zen, forcing him to use that claw to feed off the darkness in those victims' hearts. How do you think a five year old being forced into such acts would react to such a terrifying scene?"

"..." Lucille couldn't say anything at all. She was speechless.

"So naturally when Zen's subconscious was brought here, he brought that darkness with him to the memory world that manifested using the fabricated darkness of this world. In truth, the one that we saw here-he's just an illusion, but a dangerous one still, especially if he can influence Zen to the point where he can take full control of his mind," Gula finished.

"So that's how Dark Gula came into being." Florian understood the situation now.

"Dark Gula?" Gula repeated.

"Well...we can't just keep calling it the personification of your darkness," Florian reasoned.

"Fair point. It would take way too long to say that in one sentence," Gula agreed.

"...?" Zen looked confused.

"Dude, should we be talking about this with Zen nearby? He's right here." Quartz looked a little worried about talking about such things that still probably hadn't happened yet to this Zen.

"I think Zen already experienced it, but, like I said, that memory was sealed away by Ion. So he probably doesn't know that it happened yet," Gula told him.

"I've been meaning to ask. Zen knew you right away, but you didn't appear before him until Hallow Bastion, right?"

"Well...that's not entirely true..." Gula used a finger to scratch his cheek sheepishly.

"Oh, I've known Gula since I was really little! He's been with me all this time; I just didn't want to tell Aster or Ion about it because they might think I was crazy," Zen chirped in.

"Wait, so he thought you were his imaginary, friend? Huh, I didn't peg Zen to do something like that." Lucille blinked.

"I see. So Gula is like your guardian angel, right?" Quartz beamed.

"Hmhm!" Zen nodded earnestly.

"I don't get it, Gula...why didn't Zen know about you until much later if he had known you long before then?" Ava asked curiously.

"I...secretly asked Ion to seal away any memories involving me too when he was sealing away Zen's memories of what happened when he had been taken by Xehanort. He knew I was there, but he never spoke up about it in front of Zen. I felt responsible-I was the reason he was targeted in the first place. I caused so much suffering for him. I thought if those memories could be sealed away then that darkness would be trapped inside those sealed memories as well. But he still had that Heartless claw arm that he has to contend with on a daily basis. I've got to admit...Zen's got way more willpower than I'll ever have."

"Oh...so when we entered this memory world...it also recreated that darkness that was inside his sealed memories."

"Precisely. That's really all I was able to gather by myself. Sorry it's not much."

"It's plenty, Gula. At least now we have a better idea what's going on here." Lucille shook her head.

Zen went over and held Gula's hand, sensing that Gula seemed a little depressed. Lucille hadn't realized it until now, but she could see Zen's hand was normal. Could it be because Dark Gula took the form of Zen's Heartless claw in their world that Zen's arm looked normal in this memory world?

"Gula, it'll be okay. Miss Lucille said it herself-nothing bad will go wrong as long as you're all here."

"Thanks, kid." Gula gently patted the boy's head before turning to the others. "Right, so now we need to think of a way to defeat that illusion of...ugh...Dark Gula. Man, that sounds so weird coming from me."

"He's a manifestation of darkness, right? He reacted to Quartz's light just like a Heartless would," Riku started.

"I figured that was Quartz's handiwork." Florian beamed.

"Heh heh...At least this power of mine is good for something other than powering ancient relics." Quartz grinned.

"Maybe the Lux Arma could work on him. It repels all forms of darkness, right?" Lucille called forth her Lux Arma that appeared in her hand as she carefully looked at the seraphic blade.

"That's true. A Union Drive would probably be effective too, but we've used that power too much recently. I don't think we should use it. It takes up a lot of energy," Florian added.

"We also don't know how strong this Dark Gula is, so we should conserve what energy we have," Ava agreed with Florian.

"Okay, where would you go if you wanted to find a dark incarnation of a Foreteller hell bent on possessing a small child?" Lucille wondered as she dismissed the blade in her hand once again.

"You know, that sounds really messed up when you word it like that," Gula noted.

"Oh, what about that giant room where Maleficent had all the Princesses of Hearts? You know, the one that had this world's keyhole?" Florian made an accurate guess.

"Hmmm, actually that wouldn't be a bad place to start. There's enough room to move around, and I imagine that's the kind of ominous location they'd pick." Riku gave this some thought before coming to the same conclusion as Florian.

"Uh, Zen...? Do you happen to know where this place is?" Lucille turned to the young greenette.

"Yup, I go there to see Ion on certain days. I know where it is." Zen nodded.

"Alright, we'll check that place first then. If we're right, that's where we'll find this Dark Gula." Riku nodded.

"You know, this is a really nice room. Who does it belong to?" Quartz commented innocently about the bedroom they were in.

"Oh...this was where I stayed while in Hallow Bastion when I was...working with Maleficent," Riku hesitantly confessed.

"But this is my bedroom." Zen tilted his head in confusion.

Riku glanced at Zen and sighed. "Of course I'd end up in the same room that you lived in. I swear fate has a twisted sense of humor."

"...?" Zen was completely unaware of the rivalry that went on between Riku and his older self. "Why do you keep calling it Hallow Bastion? This is Radiant Garden," Zen added.

"Well, you know, outsiders and all." Lucille laughed nervously.

"Oh...yeah, that makes sense." Zen nodded. He went over and took hold of Lucille's hand. "Can you tell me about your world, Miss Lucille? Is it like Radiant Garden?"

"Ah, curious, huh? Sure, I don't see why not." Lucille smiled and decided to humor the younger Zen. After all, chances are he won't remember this conversation.

Riku glared, but Gula's teasing tone forced him to calm himself down. "Riku, your jealousy is showing again."

"Relax, Zen's just naturally curious. Don't forget, right now he's only five years old and doesn't remember anything of the ten years ahead right now. He doesn't even remember meeting you...yet. Besides, couldn't you go a little easy on him? You guys are essentially on the same boat."

Riku crossed his arms. "Did Zen really go through ten years of fighting the darkness on his own?"

"Yeah, he did. Even Master Oswald could tell you that. Look, I know you guys don't get along and I know Zen's prickly at best. He's a good kid underneath it all. I mean look at him right now." Gula pointed to Zen and Lucille, who was chatting away with Quartz and Florian.

"You live on an a island surrounded by water?! That sounds so cool! Why is it called Destiny Islands?" Zen excitedly exclaimed.

"Huh, you know I really don't know myself. It is a really beautiful place, though. The skies are usually warm and sunny, the ocean's surface gleaming brightly as the sun sets over an orange sunset or dawn, the sounds of the ocean's waves crashing on the shore, the white soft beaches…and I've just made myself home-sick. I really need go visit home at some point." Lucille continued her explanation, but as she did so, she felt the pang of pain that comes from the sense of nostalgia she felt.

She really missed her home and her parents. Their parents were SO going to kill them for making them fret and worry for so long. She and Florian fought hard to find a way to restore their home after the Heartless plunged it into darkness. If the theory holds correct, then all the worlds that Heartless captured while under the control of Dark Seeker Ansem would be freed and restored. She really hoped that was true for her home's sake.

"The proper word would be archipelago, Zen. That means it's a large gathering of islands all in one place. That sums up Destiny Islands," Florian tried to teach.

"Archipelago...? I just learned something that Aster doesn't know. I can't wait to tell him!"

"Oh, you'd love Destiny Islands! It's so nice and warm and there's these white birds that fly all over the place."

"They're called Seagulls, Quartz," Lucille bluntly answered.

"What are seagulls like then? Are they giants?"

"Ahaha, goodness no! I think the islanders would be worried if there was a bird that huge! Seagulls are a little bigger than a small bird, but they like to live nearby the shore since they eat fish from the ocean by plucking them out. The sailors and fisherman of our islands always use them as a sign that land is near," Lucille told him.

"Wow, that's handy. What else do your people do? Do you research stuff like Lord Ansem and his...um...appren-appren...the other scholars, I mean?" Zen was intrigued.

"Nah, we live a simple but honest life. We're born on the islands. We live on those islands, and we die on those islands. There were some folk who left to try and find the fabled 'outside world' so the elders would try to scare the younger generation away from doing the same thing by telling old island legends of mythical sea beasts that supposedly claimed the lives of many."

"That's silly. Monsters don't exist," Zen scoffed.

"Heh heh, after everything we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if they did exist. There's so many different worlds out there, each one with a different way of living and so many different people to meet, so many places to see and learn from. It's really an amazing and life-changing experience."

"Wow...I hope Aster and I get to explore those worlds someday! Besides...I'd like to go see my real home if it still exists somewhere among those stars."

"I'm sure your world still exists. I can feel it in my heart that this is the truth. My gut instincts never failed me yet!" Quartz boldly claimed.

"So what about that time you tried to sneak up on us and I nearly ran you through with my Lux Arma?" Lucille teased.

"Lucille~! How can you say that? I was trying to be all cool and awesome, and then you had to remind me of that!" Quartz whined pitifully and started to cry a waterfall of tears from his eyes.

"C'mon, Quartz, I was just kidding. Don't start bawling. You'll look bad in front of Zen."

As the two continued their exchange, Riku, Gula and Ava watched on.

"You know, I never knew Zen had this side of him. He sort of reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I'd never thought I'd say that."

"You see? You two are much more alike than you think. Deep down, this is Zen's true self, but after everything that happened with Xehanort and with Radiant Garden falling to darkness ten years ago-not to mention feeling like he failed Aster when he ended up with amnesia and Ion, who stayed behind to keep the heart of that world protected from the Heartless that would have devoured it in seconds had he not used himself as the seal to protect the keyhole. He eventually...lost that child-like wonder and was forced to grow up faster than he should have, distancing himself from people. He should have lived a normal life. If only he hadn't found me," Gula explained.

"You really feel responsible, don't you?" Riku asked.

Gula nodded.

"You were very much the same, Riku. You wanted to protect the people important to you-like your friends. So you forced yourself to grow up and act like an adult rather than the teenager that you are," Ava reminded.

"Look how well that turned out." Riku grimaced.

"You made mistakes. We've made terrible mistakes too, you know. We caused the Keyblade War that took so many lives and caused a huge decrease in the Seraphim's numbers, as a lot of them were bound to keyblade wielders who lost their hearts to darkness-and thus the Seraphim followed, as the pact is soul-binding."

"I understand your feeling of wanting to atone for your mistakes. Gula and I feel the same way. That's why we won't allow our successors to make our fatal mistakes. As they will inherit the future that is to come, it'll be up to them to decide on the path that they will walk together as one union-something that we were never able to achieve," Ava continued.

"So I'm not the only one who messed up big time. That's...comforting?"

"Well, let's just say we're on the same wavelength. You and Zen could be good friends if you just tried to understand and learn from each other. Of course, knowing Zen like I do, he'll probably still hold a grudge against you for a REALLY long time after what you did to Sora and Lucille. He doesn't like betrayals of any kind. Not gonna lie-what you did back then was pretty low, buddy."

"We didn't get along the moment we first met. We've been hostile with each other since then. I'm not sure how you expect us to actually be friends," Riku sarcastically noted.

"Well, think of this as part of your journey to redeeming yourself. I don't know Zen as well as Gula, but I do believe that if you preserve and don't give up on him, he'll eventually come to think of you as a friend. It worked for Aster and Lucille, so why not you?" Ava advised.

"I think you're both insane but...I'll try. I owe it to Lucille to try and be friendly with him."

"Hey, guys! C'mon, let's go! We need to find that Dark Gula!" Lucille called out to them, who seemed to have finally coaxed the unpredictable Quartz from his pitiful state, with Florian and Zen waiting for them. Zen held on to one of Lucille's hand, which made Riku growl lowly.

"He can start by not being so clingy towards my best friend."

"Hoo boy. Reel it in, bright eyes." Gula shook his head in disbelief.

"Let's hurry to the place where they held the Seven Princesses of Heart." Ava moved to join Lucille and the others, with the two boys following behind, leaving the bedroom behind. From here on, they'd be at the mercy of the memory world.

* * *

Thankfully, their journey was more or less peaceful, as they didn't come into conflict with many Heartless. Dark Gula was probably biding his strength to wait to summon more using his own darkness when they came face to face.

Following Zen's direction's, they found themselves in the same room that the Seven Princesses of Heart were held as captives in by Maleficent.

"This place brings back bad memories." Riku frowned.

"This is definitely from my memory. It's like Gula said-while most of the memory world resembles Zen's memory of this world, parts of my memory are mixed with it. Good thing this place is separate from Zen's actual chain of memories."

"I can sense Dark Gula. He's here, alright." Gula called forth his keyblade, Ava also following suit.

"Well well, you came to me, after all. Saves me from trying to scour this whole memory world looking for you," Dark Gula mocked as he stood actually where Riku's possessed self once sat.

That memory came back with a vengeance for Riku.

"My, aren't you the one that Xehanort possessed before? What a disappointment you turned out to be. Just like the brat right next to you."

"Hmph. I refuse to-wait, Xehanort? Don't you mean Ansem?"

"Ugh...This is so stupid. That 'Ansem' that took control of you was just Xehanort's Heartless pretending to be Ansem. Had a bad case of delusions, that one."

"Well, we could have told him that ourselves," Gula retorted.

"...Fate really does have a twisted sense of humor. The same guy who made Zen's life a living hell is the same one who nearly made mine a living hell. Just how many more connections are we going to have?" Riku grumbled.

"What's a living hell, anyway? I've heard the word used often but I never understood what it meant." Quartz asked.

"...Seriously?" Riku just stared at Quartz with a incredulous look.

"He's special, Riku, he's special. Just go along with it." Lucille shook her head.

"And you brought the little runt with you. How helpful of you. I suppose you still aren't going to take my offer from before?" Dark Gula asked.

"I'll tell you what I told you back then-screw your deal! I'd sooner be swallowed by darkness than accept any deal of yours," Lucille barked back.

"Oh well, I tried. Guess we'll do this the hard way. How about a trip down memory lane for you both?" Dark Gula shrugged his shoulders and then snapped his fingers. A black hole appeared underneath Lucille and Zen and both of them fell into the abyss below, letting out shocked cries as gravity allowed them to fall into it.

"Lucille!" Both Riku and Florian said at the same time.

"Zen!" Gula tried calling out, but they couldn't see or hear anything from it before it closed just as fast as it appeared.

"Where did you send them?"

"Oh relax, They're fine. I just took them to a place that I prepared especially for this moment. I'm sure that this will break the kid's mind like a twig. Then I'll have full reign over that body waiting for me on the other side without having to fight for dominance. With the Star Fragment in hand, getting out of here will be a cinch while leaving you all here to rot away. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful plan?"

"No! You're wrong. Zen is stronger than that. He'll prove that to you." Gula refused to believe that.

"Oh, we'll see who turns out to be right. While we wait for their return, let's play a little keyblade match, shall we? I've been waiting for the chance to fight my other half," Dark Gula mocked as he summoned not only a reverse version of Gula's keyblade but even wore a darker version of Gula's union armour gear."

You thief! I was saving that for Zen." Gula scowled.

"Then try and claim it back, if you can."

"Get ready, this is going to be a tough fight," Gula told everyone as they braced themselves for combat.

"Will Lucille be okay down there with Zen?" Florian asked.

"Don't worry about Lucille. She can take care of herself. I'm more worried about Zen right now. In this memory world, he has the mind and body of a five year old right now. Unless he can awaken his present self..." Ava told the seraph.

"Let the games begin!" Dark Gula declared loudly as he started to summon multiple Heartless from his own pool of darkness.

* * *

Zen and Lucille fell rather unceremoniously in a bleak location.

"You know, I'm getting really sick of getting thrown into dark places," Lucille sarcastically noted before sitting up and looking for the greenette, who was not far from where Lucille landed.

"Zen! Are you alright?" She gently shook the boy's body in order to stir him awake. Thankfully, Zen responded as she hoped.

"Owww...that really hurt. Where are we now?"

"Good question," Lucille agreed and tried to focus her eyes on their surroundings. It was then that numerous Shadow Heartless appeared from the ground and had trapped them in a circle, with Lucille and Zen in the middle of it.

'This isn't good. We're surrounded completely by these things! I bet that Dark Gula sent them. If I had Florian or Ava with me, I'd be able to get rid of all of them easily. I'll just have to improvise then. I didn't learn magic for nothing,' Lucille strategized as she summoned the Lux Arma and stood ready to defend her friend.

For some reason, though, the Heartless did nothing. They just stood there staring at them.

Lucille noticed that Zen started shivering and had his eyes shut. He also had his ears covered with his hands as if to block out something. "Zen...?"

"I...I can hear screams. So many voices screaming in pain. They're...angry at me. Because I hurt them...?" Zen then cried out in a loud scream as his head felt like it was about to implode.

"Zen! Hold yourself together!" Lucille tried to encourage him, but it was almost like he didn't know she was there. The pain was clouding his mind.

"I...I remember now. That scary man...he did something to my arm. When I woke up...my arm looked the same as those creatures. After that, he threw me into a dungeon cell and later on threw other people in there with me. I...I stole their hearts and devoured them." He sobbed as the painful memories flooded back.

"I really didn't want to hurt them, but...my arm wouldn't listen. Every time I stole a new heart, it felt like I was losing parts of myself too. I felt empty. I..."

Lucille looked back at the Heartless and started to click the pieces together. That's why they're not attacking; these must be the Heartless of the ones that had their hearts stolen by Zen back then. Since these were Zen's memories of the time he had been this Xehanort's prisoner, they appeared as vengeful Heartless to Zen's mind.

"I'm a Heartless too, aren't I? I only bring misfortune to everyone. Maybe it would be better if..."

"Don't even finish that sentence!" Lucille snapped. She felt bad but in her frustration at hearing what Zen was saying, she raised her voice loudly.

Zen blinked, and his eyes widened and looked up at Lucille. "Miss Lucille..." He started, "If you stay here, you'll be hurt too. Just leave me here and save yourself."

"No way, that's not happening!"

"But..."

"What you said is not true! You're no Heartless or monster! And don't let anyone else tell you otherwise! Okay, I'll admit it, your future self can be scary, harsh, and you can be a complete jerk just like Riku when you want to be. You even call me 'Island girl' at every turn except when we're in danger! But there's more to you than that! You're incredibly loyal to your friends! You care about others even though you pretend you don't! You've fought tooth and nail for years to keep the darkness in you from hurting the people you love, and you never gave up on the people that others thought were impossible to save, like Ion!"

"These memories are shackling your heart and drowning you. If you don't try to face it, you'll stay haunted by these shadows of your past! You're strong enough to take the first step and overcome it-I know you are! Because that's the Zen I know!"

"Miss Lucille..."

"You're my friend, Zen. No matter what you are or what you become, that will never change to me. So I'm not running away. I'll never abandon those important to me!" Lucille pointed the Lux Arma at the Heartless.

"Hey, you hear me, Heartless? I might be on my own, but I'm not alone. My friends give me the courage and strength to keep fighting forward, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Just try and get Zen if you can, you buggy little freaks!"

With that, the Heartless closed in and one even tried to take a lunge at her, but she managed to defeat it with her Lux Arma. Another tried to attack, but she managed to fend off each attack with the seraphic weapon in her hand.

 _'My friends are my power...? Does that mean...Ion, Aster, Kairi and everyone has been with me all this time?'_ Zen gently touched where his heart was. It felt as if a new power was being born from within him. He could feel the hope and strength of the people that he knew and others that he had yet to meet but strangely felt like he had already met them-he could feel they were there.

 _'What is this feeling? It's like...I'm not afraid of the darkness anymore. I...I can face it now. She's right, I can't run away anymore! I'll face the darkness with no more regret!'_

Lucille fought valiantly despite the fact she was on her own and repelling each attack of the Heartless, but she was struggling to keep up with their numbers. No matter how many she cut down, more appeared to replace them. "This doesn't look good, but I'm not giving up!"

One of them made a surprise swipe and knocked the Lux Arma out of her hands. She fell back on her rear from the shock of the surprise ambush. They started to close in, getting ready to jump on her.

Lucille stayed near Zen as if to defend him. She then started casting magic at them. It wasn't as effective as her Lux Arma, but it was all she could do now.

"It'll be okay, Zen. This time, I'm the one that will save you. I'll cast a spell that should buy you some time. Use that to escape."

"Huh? What about you?"

Lucille winked. "People are always saying I'm reckless. I'll think of something, though, I promise. So please don't ever give up on yourself, okay?"

Just as the Heartless were about to all jump on her, Zen rushed forward and embraced Lucille.

"Lucille!"

"Wha-?! What are you-" Just then an explosion of light appeared, its radius expanding across the entire dark void and designating every shadow nearby.

When the light finally faded and sparkles of light danced in the air for a few moments, a voice Lucille recognized right away spoke.

"Thanks...Island girl."

Lucille blinked and realized that Zen felt taller now. She craned her head upwards to see Zen had returned back to his present form, with his bandaged arm included.

"Zen! You're back to normal!"

"You make it sound like it's a miracle," Zen scoffed.

"I don't understand. I thought Gula said you reverted back to a five year old because your memory was from ten years ago."

"He's right. I think it may also have been because to me they were my happiest years of my childhood. Those memories Ion sealed away, though, were pretty painful to watch in my head. No wonder he sealed them away back then."

"You remember everything now?"

Zen nodded. "I think Ion had always intended for me to see these memories when I was ready to face them. I guess we just prematurely removed the lock on them. I've got some choice words for that Zero guy when we get out of this messed up world. I've never been so mortified in my life!"

"Heh, you were super cute as a kid, you know. But I'm glad to have you back. I strangely prefer this Zen for some reason."

Zen blinked a few times before pulling his muffler up to hide his reddening cheeks. "D-Don't make it weird by saying that!"

It was only just then that they both realized that they were still in the embrace.

"WAAAHHH!" They were both horrified and released each other immediately, taking a few steps back from each other. "I'm so sorry about that!" Lucille turned as red as a tomato, flailing her arms madly.

"D-Don't think too much into it! I only did that because you were about go all martyr on me with the Heartless surrounding you! You-you stupid island girl! What were you thinking?! How was that going to solve anything other than getting yourself killed?!" Zen fiercely defended.

"Hey! I was trying to save your life, jerk!"

"I was doing just fine! If I had retained my memories before whatever power reverted me back to a kid faded, I would have totally been able to take on those Heartless all by myself," Zen retorted back.

"Okay fine, whatever. Gah!" Lucille threw her arms in the air. Zen was so impossible to understand sometimes, just like another guy she knew.

They both crossed their arms at each other and huffed in defiance. A few seconds later, they were both snickering.

"What **are** we doing?"

"Tell me about it. We need to get back up there and help the others."

"Okay, how do we do that? We don't even know where we are."

"We'll think of something. We always do, right?" Lucille grinned at him.

"...Zen? Is that really you?"

"That voice-! It couldn't be, could it?" Lucille gasped.

"...Ion?"

* * *

Meanwhile, back above, the others were busy fighting Dark Gula.

Gula fought in close combat with his darker counterpart, both keyblades clashing in a fast flurry of movements. Speed and a quick mind were Gula's strongest points as a keyblade wielder, but no matter how fast he was to try and outmaneuver his opponent, Dark Gula blocked his every move.

"Hahaha! Have you forgotten? I'm you but better-I know every move and attack you know, so don't bother trying to outsmart me!" Dark Gula mocked before kicking Gula in the stomach, causing the former Leopardus leader to fall on his back. Dark Gula tried to strike him while he was down, but Gula was able to roll out of the way before the keyblade struck the ground, causing it to recoil from the force of the impact.

Gula got up quickly and got back into his fighting stance. "It's no good. He literally knows my every move."

"Then leave this to us. You concentrate on giving support," Riku told him.

Gula sighed and shrugged. "Well, my pride has already been wounded like three times today. What's a fourth time going to do?"

Riku charged in and attacked Dark Gula head on.

While Riku had him distracted, Florian was reciting a seraphic arte as quickly as he could while Quartz tried to hit Dark Gula with projectiles of crystalized light, but, like Gula, his dark half was dashing around too fast for them to hit.

"Gaaaahh! How is he so fast?! None of my attacks are hitting!" Quartz cried out in frustration.

"Heal Gula if you can," Ava advised.

Quartz nodded. "Got it."

"I'm fine. Just a little exhausted. It was tough trying to keep up with that counterpart of mine," Gula brushed off.

"No way, you look like you're gonna keel over. Besides, healing and defense is usually my forte. Don't worry, this will take a sec." Quartz shook his head in defiance.

Like Gula, Riku was thrown back on the ground harshly, with a keyblade pointing directly at him.

"Hmph, this is the best you can do? You guys are such a disappointment. How were you able to get this far? If I had known how easy you all were, I'd have finished you off the moment you entered this world."

"Shut up! You're the one who summoned all those Heartless beforehand! How are you still standing?" Gula snapped.

"No one like a sore loser," Dark Gula mocked mercilessly. "You really should have just stayed in the Realm of Darkness and just become part of it. This power is so amazing you can't even imagine."

Riku glared at him.

"But it looks like this battle is as good as-" Dark Gula was about to bring the keyblade down on Riku before he quickly moved to block an attack from Ava, who tried a surprise attack, but it failed.

"Nice try, you have to do better than that, though!" Dark Gula taunted as both he and Ava started a fast and furious dance with keyblades clashing constantly, trying to get the advantage over the other.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to possess Zen's body so badly?" Ava demanded to know.

"It's all part of a grand scheme made up between me and Xehanort. It's none of your business."

"You're working with him?" Gula realized.

"Well duh, Xehanort still wants the heart of the Foreteller that's inside Zen. We just have mutual arrangement that works for both of us." Dark Gula smirked.

"You're a fool-even more of a fool than I was back then. And that's saying a lot." Gula scowled.

"You're starting to get on my nerves," Dark Gula snapped. He then gave a powerful kick to Ava, who lost her footing and fell to the ground on her back, losing her grip on her keyblade, which disappeared when it left her hand.

"Ava!" Gula, as beaten as he was, hurried over to Ava's side to check on her.

"I-I'm okay, Gula." Ava smiled despite the pain she felt at Gula.

Dark Gula then felt a powerful source of magic being aimed at him and looked up.

Florian threw a chain of paper charms towards him before casting the seraphic arte he had been conjuring. "Holy Lance!"

The paper charms merged together and morphed into a large spear of light aimed straight at him.

Dark Gula used more of the darkness from within him to create a dark shield that deflected the spell.

"Huh?! He blocked my arte?!"

"That was a pretty good move. Not good enough to outsmart-" Dark Gula started before he felt his body convulse in pain and started to pant in labored breaths. "What...? What's going on?"

"Is he...getting weaker?" Gula frowned in confusion.

Riku got up and saw something in the distance. It looked like a portal similar to the corridors to darkness but it was different. It looked like a seraphic arte.

He soon got his answer when he saw three people appear from it.

"Wow, I didn't know you could make corridors of light too!"

"You usually need to be in the Realm of Light to make corridors of light, but if there's one nice little thing that our corridors have over the darkness ones, it's that we can use them in the Sleeping Realm. I never knew how handy this would be when I was taught this." Ion smiled.

"Well, ain't that a convenient loophole." Zen sighed.

"It's Lucille and Zen!" Florian exclaimed in relief. "Hey, Zen's back to normal too!" Florian realized soon after.

"How did that happen?" Riku turned to Gula.

"For once...I have no idea. A wizard did it?" Gula shrugged and cracked a light joke.

"Lucille!" Ava and Florian rushed over to Lucille's side, passing by Dark Gula.

"Ava! Flo! Are you and everyone okay?" Lucille quickly approached Ava.

Ava nodded. "We are now. You came just in time. We wanted to come save you right away but..."

Lucille shook her head. "Don't worry. As you can see, we're both A-okay!"

"We didn't expect to see Ion of all people here, though," Zen added.

"Not sure how I should take that. I'll explain things later. Right now, I need to take back what he stole from me."

"What he stole? Do you mean the Star Fragment?"

Ion walked towards Dark Gula before moving forward and successfully plucking the Star Fragment from where it was on Dark Gula's person.

"Why did he suddenly just get weaker? He was winning against us before."

"He abused the power of darkness. I should know this better than anyone. He used his own darkness from within himself to power his strength and make him stronger, but the darkness in this world isn't real darkness. It's fabricated, so it must have eventually backfired on him," Riku answered.

"Of course. Why do you think we need vessels of our own to possess? I was certain I would have been able to possess Zen's body when I finished you lot off, so I went all out."

"I think I understand now. He was using the darkness in this world but because it wasn't real darkness, it had an adverse effect on him," Ava understood.

"How did you escape, seraph? I imprisoned you."

"Yes, you did. It seems in your arrogance that you forgot one simple thing-you threw these two into the same place where you trapped me, so with their help, I was able to break free." Ion explained.

"How did you brats even see past my illusion? I thought for sure that you never would have been able to overcome your fear of facing the truth of the past." Dark Gula gritted his teeth.

"You're right. If I was on my own, I probably would have ended up becoming consumed by my own darkness like you said. I had always feared what laid behind the memories that for some reason were out of my reach. Now I know that Ion sealed them away-and I can't blame him for doing that. It was a painful experience feeling all those memories come back at once. If I had still retained those memories, I don't think I would have been strong enough back then."

"Zen..." Ion glanced at the greenette.

"But I'm not on my own-not anymore. I won't run away from the past anymore. I'll accept everything, and maybe even someday I'll be able restore what I lost on that day."

"Your darkness? Oh please, don't give yourself too much credit. You wouldn't even have any darkness to generate if it weren't for me," Dark Gula scoffed.

Zen blinked and looked at Lucille, who seemed just as confused.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? We know that you took the form of Zen's Heartless claw in the Realm of Light, but what does that have to do with Zen?" Gula demanded to know. "Unfortunately, I spawned you, after all."

"Oh yes, and you did such a great job of keeping me locked up within your own heart-or what remains of it after your heart joined his. Tell me, how does it feel to have all your hard work be undone by one researcher?" Dark Gula sarcastically countered while he glared at Zen.

"Just answer his question. What did you mean by that?" Riku repeated.

"Alright, since I have no strength to fight back anymore, I might as well tell you something interesting before you finish me off. I'm surprised you didn't notice this yourself since we're the same person, Gula, but Zen naturally has no darkness of his own. Most of that darkness stems from me. There's not even enough darkness to create a shadow-and they're the weakest."

"...Wait, what? What do you mean there's no darkness? I've been haunted by that darkness all my life! I've even had nightmares of Xehanort and-wait a minute, I remember you now! You showed up in my nightmares too!" Zen felt confused.

"I'm flattered that you finally recognized me." Dark Gula gave a snarky retort.

"There's darkness in every heart. No matter how good they are, they'll always have that tiny bit. Although, I would say Quartz is an exception to that rule, but he's a Nobody, so he doesn't really count," Gula pointed out.

Quartz sniffed. "You're a meanie."

"There's also the Princesses of Heart who don't have any shred of darkness either," Florian recalled. "But they're all girls, so it couldn't be that either."

"Unless Zen has been secretly a girl all this time, that's not possible like you say. And I'm pretty sure I've been around him long enough to know what his gender is," Gula teased.

"Gula, don't make me hit you." Zen growled.

"Hahaha...that's why I said don't give yourself too much credit. In case you didn't get the message, you know your Heartless claw that you despise so much? That's me. Xehanort freed me by extracting the darkness from my goody-two-shoes half, Gula. Xehanort wanted to make you a vessel of his, so he needed to overpower your will with his heart. But something very unusual happened-your heart rejected Xehanort. Somehow, by some miracle, your heart was stronger than his. Needless to say, he was not pleased by this," Dark Gula started.

"Is that true?" Riku turned to Gula in surprise.

"Now that I think about it, I was surprised by that as well when it happened. Like he said, something protected Zen's heart from being taken over by Xehanort back then. I never knew what."

"Neither did Xehanort-but he was a man who always prepares for every eventuality. So if he couldn't possess you the usual way, he would break you mentally and emotionally-hence all those experiments he laid before you. He wanted to see how much pain your heart could bear until it broke. By doing that, you would have eventually been molded into the perfect puppet. At first, he extracted me from where Gula's heart was and tried to directly implant me into you so I could influence you, but that also failed. I ended up taking the form of a Heartless claw in place of your real arm after your heart rejected me as well. But I found that I had some semblance of free will even as a claw, so I was able to somewhat control you-if only just a part of your body."

"So you're the reason that my arm's the way it is." Zen narrowed his eyes.

"That's all I know. You won't be getting anything else out of me. All that darkness you thought belonged to you actually belonged to me-and, to an extent, your dear little Foreteller friend Gula."

"Don't think this is a victory just because you've defeated me here. I am but an illusion in this world, but the real me is still alive and well within that claw, and I will always be there lurking inside you. Until you find some way to erase me completely, your arm will never return to the way it was."

"I'll find a way. You'll see," Zen challenged.

"Hmph. Then by all means, fight back to your heart's content. Just remember that Xehanort hasn't forgotten you, and he's still very interested in you. And I haven't given up my plans either. One way or another, we'll find a way to break you. Also, remember this: without me, you will no longer be able to harness the darkness like you do now. Will you be ready to accept that if you do find a way to restore your arm to the way it was?"

Ion took a step forward but Zen stopped him. "Let me do this."

Zen then approached and grabbed Dark Gula by his robes. "Listen here, I don't care what you or Xehanort plan to do me. Didn't you hear what I said before? No more running, no more hiding. I plan to face everything from here on without any regrets. If it means I can no longer use the darkness once I get rid of you in the real world? Fine. I've always been good at adapting ever since that day when Radiant Garden was stolen form us. Know this, though: I will never forgive anyone who hurts those important to me. If you so much as hurt any of my friends in any way, I will find you no matter where you hide inside my heart, and I will make you feel every bit of pain you've ever inflicted on those innocent victims you've stolen hearts from. That's a promise."

"You know it's a waste of time telling this to me, right?" Dark Gula challenged, even though the death glare Zen was giving him was enough to make him shiver in fear. Zen meant every single word of what he just said.

"Perhaps so. Maybe if I try hard enough, I can even reach the real Dark Gula back outside this world. But even if you don't remember this, I will and I will make good on my word. Now disappear." With that, Zen used his Heartless claw to grab hold of Dark Zen and absorb him completely within seconds.

Dark Gula didn't even have a chance to scream as it happened so fast. Zen sighed deeply and turned around. "Well...that felt oddly satisfying."

"...Wow, Zen, you're savage. Glad that's my darker half you were talking to and not me. I'd be fearing for my life otherwise." Gula whistled.

"Ah...sorry...Did I scare anyone during that?"

Lucille smiled. "A little, but that's part of who you are. You're still our friend to us, flaws and all."

"Do you think what he said was true...? That all the darkness that you thought you had actually belonged to Gula and that you don't have any darkness at all?" Florian wondered.

"Who knows? I doubt it, though. There's no way that could be possible. Every person has at least a little darkness. Besides, he was Gula's darkness incarnate so he could have been lying," Zen answered.

"I don't know about most of the stuff he was saying. One thing he said was true-Xehanort did try to force his heart onto yours. That's probably how he intended to acquire my power but something very extraordinary happened that not even Xehanort could predict: your heart rejected him. Somehow you overpowered his heart and made it impossible for him to possess you." Gula added

"I did...? When did that happen?" Zen raised an eyebrow.

"It happened while you were still unconscious after he captured you and Ion. Maybe it was a subconscious reaction?"

"Are you sure it wasn't you who did that?" Zen asked.

"Hmm...I'd probably would have done the same if it came to that, but no, it was something else that came to your defense before I could. Could it be that you might have a another person's heart?" Gula wondered.

"That's ridiculous, Gula. I already have one freeloader. I'd be livid if there was a second freeloader that even you don't know about."

"That's true. I guess we'll never know. I'm sorry for everything, Zen. Because of me, you had to go through all this."

"...Even if that's true, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. You still did your best to keep me safe even when you were powerless to do so. And you were there for me all that time before I forgot about you..."

"You remember now?" Gula's mask hid his shocked expression but his voice gave him away.

"I got all my memories back now, remember? Including the ones that Ion sealed away, you told him to seal any memories of you from me as well, didn't you?"

Gula nodded. "I thought...you would be happier not knowing about me. I was the one who dragged you into this whole mess."

"And like I said, I probably wouldn't be here now if you weren't here. Besides, it's not your fault that Dark Gula broke out. It was Xehanort who extracted him from you even after you sealed him away inside you."

"Zen's right, Master Gula. You should not punish yourself anymore. If you still feel like you need to repent then continue to protect Zen as you have done from the beginning. You were the one who kept him from breaking apart like Xehanort wanted, weren't you? You have my deepest gratitude for that. Besides, I failed as a guardian too, so I can understand your frustration at your failures in both of our roles as protectors"

"Heh...getting pep talks by a seraph and a kid who's hundreds of years younger than me. Man, I'm losing my touch. Thanks, Zen...Lord Ion."

"Ion, how did you end up in the same place as that Dark Gula guy threw us into?" Zen then turned to the guardian of Radiant Garden-or at least he was in Zen's childhood memories-the Ion they knew in the present was a human now by some miracle due to the union arte Lucille and Florian used to save him.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing to admit. When you used that memory card to create this place, a strange reaction occurred. Zero hadn't realized that he had copied not just yours but Zen's memory of Hallow Bastion as well-rather in this case, the two memories clashed and formed this mash-up of both of your memories. What's worse, the memory Zero had unknowingly copied was one of the memories that I sealed away deep within Zen's heart that included the memory of Dark Gula, who took on your likeness since you were now so strongly connected to Gula's heart."

"Yeah...about that. It was kind of disturbing to see someone who has your face but didn't create him."

"Yeeaaah...sorry about that. Not sure why that happened either. Hearts be weird like that I, guess," Gula added.

"The illusion of Dark Gula that was created by the nature of this world's memories managed to sneak up on me and take me by surprise before I could counterattack. He stole the Star Fragment that Zero gave to me to keep safe and threw me into that void you two ended up in as well."

"That must have been embarrassing for you." Lucille laughed sheepishly.

"You have no idea. It's a good thing the real me never has to be reminded of this humiliation. In any case, I believe I should give this to you properly now." Ion smiled and handed the fragment over to Lucille.

"Alright! We now have the fourth piece!"

"All we need is the last one and we'll finally be able to figure out what's going on in this weird castle." Zen nodded.

"Actually, that might be easier than you think. I'll explain once we leave this place," Riku spoke up.

"Oh?" Florian tilted his head in interest.

Ion's body started to fade and the world around them stated to shake.

"Whoa! Hey, what's going on?!" Quartz panicked.

"Now that I've handed over the fragment to the one it was meant for, by Zero's instruction, this world will now disappear along with me. When you leave this world, we won't meet again, but I'm glad I was able to see Zen grow up with a good heart, just as I always thought he would."

"Ion...This isn't goodbye. We'll see each other in Radiant Garden real soon." Zen softly smiled at his dear friend.

"Heh, you're right. This is only a temporary farewell. Then in that case, see you soon. Now you must go. This world won't be able to maintain its form for much longer before it crumbles. Gula, you continue to take care of Zen, okay?"

"Well, he is my successor. What kind of teacher would I be if I can't look after my student?"

"You're not my teacher yet, cat boy," Zen retorted.

"As soon as we deal with that arm of yours, that will be corrected soon enough." Gula smirked.

Lucille nodded and took out the card that would grant them escape. "See you soon, Ion. We've got a lot of stories to share when we meet again." Lucille smiled at the fading illusion.

Ion smiled back. "You bet. The real me can't wait to hear them. Oh...tell Oswald that he doesn't need to keep his promise about Zen's memories anymore. I don't want him to feel like he broke his word by accident."

"Right, will do. So the Rabbit knew all along, huh? Figures." Zen carefreely waved.

With that, Lucille activated the card that opened the doorway which led back to the dream world of Castle Oblivion. It wouldn't be long now until they would be able to finally find out what was going on and save Zero in the process.

Or at least that's what they thought...

* * *

When Lucille opened her eyes after the blinding light faded, she found herself alone in Castle Oblivion.

"Huh? Is this one of Zero's memories again? Why is it I'm the only one that can see them?" Lucille threw her arms up in annoyance.

Indeed, she was yet again seeing one of Zero's memories unfold. She saw Zero eagerly running along with a star fragment in hand. This must be just after the previous memory she saw when Zero saw that shooting star fall from the sky.

He seemed too excited to share his discovery with Namine and reached the door of the thirteenth floor, but just as he gently cracked the door open, he heard voices inside and listened in to whatever they were talking about.

"Nice work. I say good riddance to that blabbermouth." Larxene was the first voice he heard.

He sneaked silently and peeked through the crack in the door to see what was going on inside. He saw Larxene and Marluxia, the two Nobodies that relentlessly mocked him about what a failed, flawed replica he was, and there was Axel. Zero didn't mind Axel that much. He wasn't cruel to him like the others, but they never really talked that often. But in the rare occasions they did, Axel seemed to treat him better than anyone else in the castle. Perhaps not everyone in the Organization was that bad...

He then also saw Namine, who sat in the corner on a chair, seemingly lost in thought and sad about something. 'Why is Namine sad? Did they say something awful to her?'

"Marluxia...You used Vexen to test Sora, didn't you?"

"Not just Sora's-it was yours, too. We weren't sure if you actually had it in your bones to take out a fellow member."

 _'They killed Vexen?! Well...it's not like I had any attachment to him. He was the one who planned to dispose me on his superior's orders, after all. But...he was loyal to the organization, wasn't he?'_ Zero was taken aback by this news. Sure he never really liked Vexen-he always scared Zero-especially when it came to the check-ups-he was like a mad scientist-but even this felt a little wrong to him, even though he knew he shouldn't feel any pity for that Nobody. He was the one who had created him and then threw him away when it was discovered he didn't have much longer to live, yet he still felt sorry for him...why?

"Well, I guess that you did. It's time to join up."

 _'Join up?'_ Zero turned back to the conversation that was taking place between the three.

"Taking over the Organization will be like child's play with the three of us." Larxene leaned over on Axel's shoulder as she said this.

"So that's where Sora comes in..." Axel trailed off, seeming to line the pieces up in his mind.

"Of course, he wants to see Namine, so why don't we give him what he wants?"

 _'Namine?! What does she have to do with all of this? Don't tell me she's working with them!'_ Zero shook his head, brushing the thoughts of Namine actually working alongside Larxene and Marluxia away. She literally had no reason to help these people. They're the ones who were keeping her trapped here!

But what he heard next dashed his hopes that what he was hearing wasn't true.

"Rejoice, Namine. The time is nearing for you to meet the hero that you've been longing for."

"I'm...glad."

"But I'm warning you. You'd better not do anything to betray Sora's feelings. Do you understand, me little one?"

"I understand."

"All you need to do is layer Sora's memories and bring his heart closer to you." With that, both Marluxia and Larxene disappeared.

Zero just froze there, paralyzed by what he just heard. He felt his heart would be breaking apart if it wasn't already fractured enough. Namine...wanted Sora. She was replacing him with Sora.

"Sora...even if you come for me...what then?" Namine looked sadly at the drawing below.

Something started to sting in his eyes. His heart hurt more than usual. In his distracted thoughts, he accidentally dropped the star fragment he had in his hands. That alerted those inside of his presence.

Just as Zero was about to run off, Axel caught his arm.

"Well well, so you're still not dead yet. I haven't seen you around in the castle, so I thought you actually-"

"Just let go of me!" Zero snapped, taking Axel slightly aback by the sudden aggression. Zero was usually pretty soft-spoken and meek (thanks to Larxene and Marluxia's constant torment of the poor kid). It didn't take much to figure out just why Zero was angry.

"Okay, sheesh. I get what you heard just now sounded really bad but-" Axel stopped mid-way when he saw Namine approach.

"Zero, wait. It isn't what it sounds like!"

"What does it not sound like?! That you're toying with and manipulating that boy's memories?! That you're actually helping those-! Those bullies! Just because you wanted a friend? So what does that make me, huh?! Was I not good enough to be your friend?! Is it because I'm a failed replica? Is it because I'm just a fake?! Did you ever consider me a friend at all? Was that all a lie? Just like how you're lying to Sora by pretending to be something you're not!"

"Zero, that's not true! You are my friend. You're the only true friend I have in this castle."

"But obviously I wasn't enough for you." Zero's voice broke, although they couldn't see his face. It was clear that he was very upset, even on the verge of tears. "Do you realize what you're doing? Would it truly make you happy? You were always sad being kept in this castle like a prisoner. I wanted so badly to ease that pain because I'm the same. I'm a prisoner of this place too. A prison that...I know I'll never live long enough to leave."

"To me, you were the only person to ever care about me-who actually gave a damn if I were to disappear one day. I was...really happy...to have one friend. It was enough for me. But I guess it's not the same for you. If replacing me with Sora makes you happy...then fine...you continue to wait for your hero to come. There's nothing holding you back anymore." Zero then turned to leave.

"Goodbye...Namine. I hope you'll be happy with Sora. We'll likely not meet again." He couldn't bare to look at her and ran off quickly, keeping his head facing the ground.

Namine gently picked up what Zero had dropped before, and for the first time, she felt her eyes water and tears fell from her cheeks as she looked down at the fragment that was left forgotten. "Zero...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

Lucille saw the whole scene play out and felt an incredible pain in her chest. "Is this what you were feeling back then...Zero? If only you knew just how much Namine misses you right now..."

With that, the scenery changed and she found herself back in the floor with everyone present except for Gula and Ava-who went back inside Lucille and Zen, of course.

"Lucille! Are you alright? We've been trying to get through to you for the last ten minutes," Riku called out with a worried expression, shaking Lucille's shoulders.

"Whoa, take it easy! I'm out of...whatever that was now—Man, that's really disorienting." Lucille shook her head.

Riku sighed in relief. "Don't scare me-I mean us-like that! I thought something had gone wrong."

"Thank goodness. Ya worried us when ya didn't respond." Oswald sighed in relief.

"Oswald! I'm glad to see you! What about Zen? Is he okay now?" Lucille recalled that Zen's conscious was with them so she was a little worried about whether or not he would manage to leave with them or not.

"Don't worry, I'm back in my body. That felt really weird. It was like being in two places at once." Zen waved his hand to let Lucille know he was fine.

"Try not to move too soon. You've only just regained your senses," Zero gently reminded.

"Zero?! That's actually you, right?"

"Oh yeah! While you were still dazed, Riku told us that he saved Zero from that mean Nobody with the pink hair," Quartz informed her.

"Also, don't worry about the recall protocol. It turns out that the protocol didn't work as the theory stated, so we can assume that the protocol failed," Riku added.

"It would explain why I was the only one who was given this protocol to begin with." Zero nodded in agreement. "Vexen probably never implemented it to his new replicas because he considered the recall protocol a failure."

"Zero! I'm so glad!" Lucille ran over and took hold of one of Zero's hands. "That Marluxia guy didn't do anything weird to you while you were with him, did he?"

Zero shook his head. "Nothing too serious. The recall protocol may not be as effective as the theory behind it claimed, but he could still use it on me. At least he can't lock away my memories anymore. That was a one-time effect that can only be used on the first activation of the protocol."

"Oh, so since he already used it once, he can't use it again."

"Right, but I can still be made immobile or unable to attack him because of it. Other than that, it's not as serious as before."

"Which is fantastic news since I really don't want to fight you. We're buddies, after all, and no one wants to fight their buddies." Quartz beamed.

Although no one could see it because of his hood being up, Zero softly smiled before it quickly faded and removed his hand from Lucille's. "There's actually something I've been keeping from all of you...I've kept you all in the dark long enough. Instead of all this running around I made you guys do, I should have just told you the truth of it all from the start but...I was too much of a coward to say it. I thought you'd hate me."

"Huh? Is this about the whole dragging us into this dream world of Castle Oblivion that you created thing? Because we found out about that a while back."

"Oh, you did?" Zero blinked in surprise. "Well, that is one of the things I've kept from you, but there's others that I haven't been fully honest with you about. I wasn't the one who created this place, though. That honour belongs to a powerful seraph guardian who lives here. She wanted to help Sora just like I did, so we decided to work together. This isn't the place to talk about them, though. Do you still have the card for Twilight Town? You won't need it now."

"Huh? How come?" Lucille asked as she handed over the last card over to Zero, who took it gratefully from her. "Because I'm no longer going to hide anything from you all anymore. I'll hand over the last star fragment to you guys when we enter that world, and then I'm going to come clean about everything."

"You're really serious about wanting to help Sora, aren't you?" Riku seemed pleasantly surprised.

"I meant what I said back when we talked about this, remember?" Zero answered softly at Riku. "Sora is just as much a victim of this castle as myself and Namine were. And it's not fair to Sora to prolong his awakening. I'm sure you already know, but I have Sora's memories of Lucille inside me. I plan to return them back to their rightful owner."

"Okay, so what does dragging us around all these floors to get these fragments have to do with that? Couldn't we just go to the thirteenth floor and have you just return those memories?" Zen asked.

"It's...unfortunately not that simple. I wish it was that straightforward, but...there were complications that made it impossible. I needed outside help for this to work."

"Zero already explained everything to me while we were trying to find you in this place. It really is as Zero said-it's not that simple for Zero to just go there."

"Really? How come?" Florian curiously inquired.

"Let's go to the final world of your memories. Then I'll confess everything, I swear," Zero promised.

"Okay, first off, let me just do this." Zen then approached Quartz and pulled on his cheeks.

"Owch! Wh-why are yoush thish?" Quartz managed to say as Zen continued to pull on his cheeks, making it hard for him to speak properly.

"Pinching my cheeks as a little kid, huh? That's something I'm not letting go lightly."

"Wha?! Gula saish yoush wouldn't remember thasht!" Quartz paled.

"And you shouldn't take everything the freeloader said at face value. In case you forgot, I changed back to my present self when we were still inside that world, you moron. I remember everything."

"Okay, Zen. You had your revenge, so let Quartz's poor cheeks go. You're going to pull his face apart the way you're going," Lucille scolded.

"Pfft, fine," Zen scoffed then released the cheeks while he had them still stretched, making Quartz rub his cheeks to ease the soreness.

"I'm sorrrrryy, Zen! But you were just so cute as a little kid that it was hard to resis-" Quartz started to say before Zen started to emit a fiery aura behind him, glaring at him with yellow star eyes.

"Waaaahhhhh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Quartz sobbed, apologizing profusely.

"He's not wrong, though. You were pretty cute as a kid~" Lucille teased.

"Now listen here, you-!"

"Ahem," Riku coughed to get their attention.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were still here. I had hoped you were just part of that nightmare. I half-expected you to change into that gaudy dark purple outfit with the skirt."

"Very funny. I can't believe I actually have to work together with you if we want to get out of here in one piece," Riku retorted with venom.

"No one's making you stay. You're free to leave whenever you want. The door's that way."

"No way, I'm not leaving Lucille with the likes of you."

Lucille sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. "They're acting so childish over this. Why can't those two see they could be good friends if they gave each other a chance?"

"Tis a long bumpy road ahead of them, but I'll bet my lucky foot they'll be friends someday...I hope." Oswald sighed with a sweatdrop.

"You're telling me. This is gonna take a lot of work...and patience." Lucille shook her head at the two boys, who were busy firing death glares at each other.

Zero softly laughed.

"Hey, it's been a while since I've seen you smile like that. The last time you did was...well..."

Zero shook his head. "It's alright. It was my fault for letting my guard down that he got me."

"Zero...There's something I wanted to ask you. I've been strangely seeing glimpses of your own memory from time to time. At first I thought it was from the star fragments, but now I'm not so sure. How am I seeing your memories?"

"Huh? My memories?" Zero was surprised by this before his eyes softened and gave a sad smile. "Ah, I think I see...It must be because it's the castle's memory-the real Castle Oblivion that is- seeping into this world, allowing you to see what happened within its walls. It also means that the barrier between this dream world and the real one is starting to break. We don't have much time left. Once you're ready, we'll go to Twilight Town. There, I'll tell you exactly what's going on and how we can save Sora."

Zero faced the doorway leading to the twelfth floor with a determined look. _'Very soon this dream will finally be over. I wonder if I'll get to see you one last time before the end...Namine.'_

* * *

Alright! We're finally at the last leg of our journey, guys! Just a roughly three or four chapters left before this arc comes to a close. I wonder if I should work on a poll to decide which game I should do next after this? So many choices, so little time. X3

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Heart:** All according to plan. _*Evil laughter intensifies*_ But no seriously, thank you for the review and I'm glad that you are enjoying the story. ^^ Don't worry, we're not that far from the end now and I'll do my best to update as fast as possible! o/

 **Kaia** : Thank you for the review. =3 I'm glad that you really enjoy little Zen, I'm gonna have fun with him when we get to the Birth by Sleep saga. Muhahaha! =P

And thank you for your input about the pairings, I'll take this into consideration for future arcs. For now, I'll keep it open and see what other readers think before making a choice in the direction. Besides, I don't get to do love triangles often so this is kind of a fun experiment. =D

And next chapter will be a bit of a feels chapter. Just to warn you. ;)

 **Reika88** : Hello Reika! Thank you for reviewing. I'm happy to hear that you've enjoyed my work to re-read them often, it means I'm doing my job right as a writer, as much of an amateur author that I am X3 It's a fulfilling feeling to hear that so thank you. ^^ Anyway, thank you for also telling my your thoughts on the pairings. As I told Kaia above, I plan to keep it open for a little bit to see what other readers think before making a decision (don't worry, I intend to narrow down to one couple eventually), I haven't done Love Triangles before so it's kind of fun to experiment with.

I'll definitely take it into consideration for the future arcs as I'm actually kinda starting to ship Lucille and Zen myself. XD But I want to leave that choice up to you lovely readers which I might also make a poll for eventually. =3 I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and it's future story arcs to come! =3

Guest: Don't worry, he will in time. =3 When we get to Birth by Sleep, we might even see the two together. ^^ I thought it would make sense if Zen and Ienzo had known each other as I imagine hangs out in the royal library too. That and Ienzo would treat Zen a little better than most adults since he doesn't speak with that many people himself.

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

So until next chapter, happy reading folks! =D Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	11. Chapter 10: Requiem Of A Dream

_**Episode 10: Requiem Of A Dream**_

* * *

Back on the twelfth floor that would lead them to the memory world of Twilight Town-the very last world of Lucille's memories-everyone was getting ready for their final trip into the memory worlds.

She noticed Zen was looking at his bandaged arm with a thoughtful look. Lucille decided to approach and ask him what was going through his mind. "Hey...you doing okay, Zen? You're staring really hard at your arm."

"Oh, island girl. I was just thinking about what that Dark Gula said back in the last world we were in...he's still in there somewhere-planning some kind of nefarious scheme, I'll bet. I'm...also a little troubled about what he said about all the darkness I thought that came from me. It actually came from Dark Gula, and, to a lesser extent, Gula himself. Apparently, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have any darkness at all but...that isn't possible. I mean, not that having a heart devoid of any darkness is a bad thing but-"

"Every heart has a bit of darkness, right? I don't think darkness is an evil thing. It just depends on how you use that power. If you use it for good things like helping others and saving lives, then darkness can't be all that bad," Lucille told him.

"...I suppose there's some wisdom in that. I've always just assumed all darkness was bad, so I was afraid to use it unless necessary like in our battles. That doesn't really explain why Dark Gula said those things, though. If all that darkness comes from Dark Gula then...what does that make me? And why was my heart born that way? It makes no sense."

"I wouldn't worry about it for now, Zen. And don't you worry about that Dark Gula either. If he shows his stupid mug again, we'll just kick his butt again."

"Ouch, Lucille...I admit that darker half of mine is a huge jerk, but he's still me, you know...,' Gula spoke up.

"Oh, heh heh, sorry, Gula. I don't mean you. You're way nicer than that other Gula." Lucille laughed.

"We really need to rethink that name. Dark Gula sounds so dumb."

"I think we should keep it just to annoy you," Zen teased.

"Is everyone ready? I've made some changes to the memory card that I gave to Lucille before. It should take us straight to the clock tower. That's where we'll have a long-awaited talk," Zero told everyone.

"You sure that Marluxia fella ain't gonna be able to follow us?" Oswald asked.

"I...don't know anymore. There's something you should know about him. That being who's been wearing Marluxia's form-he isn't Marluxia's living memory or anything of the sort. He's what you call a Nightmare."

"A Nightmare?" Lucille repeated.

"Essentially, they are the direct opposite of Dream Eaters. Unlike your Dream Eater friend, Chi, Nightmares relish in causing chaos and discord in the Sleeping Realm. They also eat the good dreams while leaving the bad ones. I suppose in a way they are the Sleeping Realm's version of the Heartless."

"I see...That would fit that guy to a letter. He's been causing nothin' but trouble for us since we got here." Oswald nodded.

"This is all my fault. I'm the reason that nightmare is here. I brought him here..."

"Huh? What do you mean you brought him here?"

Zero turned to the door. "Let's go. Your journey is almost over now." With that, Zero activated the card, opening the doorway leading into the last memory world: Twilight Town.

* * *

They were greeted by the dusky orange hue of the sunset skies and the large clock tower that towered over them.

"There's the Clock tower just as we remember it. I hope Chrono is okay back in the real Twilight Town." Florian looked upwards to barely see the clock face of the tower.

"Well, Zero, we're here. I think it's about time you come clean to us about everything." Zen crossed his arms.

Zero flinched for a moment before turning around to face everyone. "You're right. No more secrets-I should have told you all this from the start but...I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm so sorry for all the trouble I have caused you all. It wasn't suppose to be like this."

"Huh? Wasn't suppose to be like what?"

"The true function of this dreamscape of Castle Oblivion was to preserve Sora's memories of you-to keep them safe until they can be returned to Sora."

"Dreamscape?" Oswald repeated.

"You think you're all in the realm of sleeping worlds right now. In a way, this place is a sleeping world but at the same time it's not. It's a contained fabricated dream world recreated through my memories of living here in this castle. So basically you're all inside a crystal ball that Lady Medea crafted herself to weave this fabricated world into existence."

"Whoa..." Quartz was in awe. "So it's just like what Lumen did when we were inside that Labyrinth of Memories and he had that memory card of Daybreak Town."

"It's...actually quite scary how potentially powerful a Seraph can be. If a Dream-Weaver could essentially recreate a world using just memories...Just what are the other Seraphim capable of doing?" Gula pondered out-loud.

"Even if one could create a world out of memories, it wouldn't be the same as a real world. Everything is fabricated, even the people inside that world. They're not really alive-just very elaborate and convincing illusions."

"The dreamscapes aren't the eternal fantasy worlds you would assume them to be on the surface. They were originally intended to be used as a means of recording and preserving someone's memories inside in mint-condition. But they can also be used as prisons to keep someone's memories or heart contained within."

"A prison?! I'm not so sure if I like this place anymore..." Quartz was taken aback by this.

"...Florian, no offense but your kind is kinda terrifyin'. I understand they're wardens of light but they sometimes take their job a teeny weeny bit too seriously," Oswald admitted.

"I have to admit, I'm a little unnerved by this myself. We're meant to uphold the natural order and balance between light and dark, but...I'm not okay with half of the things they've done, even if it was with good intentions. I wonder what I would have done with I was in their shoes." Florian frowned.

"Hey, cheer up, you're still just Florian to us," Lucille tried to reassure Florian.

Florian looked up to Lucille and nodded while smiling softly at her. "Thanks, Lucille."

"So what does that make these Star Fragments we've been gathering and even risking our necks for? Just breadcrumbs to keep us from straying off the path and getting ourselves trapped inside this dreamscape by accident?" Zen questioned.

"In a way-yes-but there's a more important purpose for them-those star fragments that I had given to people from your memories that I knew you trusted. I also lied to those figments as well. The fragments never held the password to Vexen's computer. What you hold in your hands is far more valuable. They are Sora's memories crystalized in those star fragments."

"Huh? They're Sora's memories?" Lucille gasped and took out the fragments that they had gathered so far.

Zero nodded to confirm Lucille's question. "I'll now give to you the final piece. Don't worry, this world won't reset once I hand it over. That was one of the changes I made to this memory world." Zero took out the last star fragment and handed it over to Lucille easily.

"Can you hold them out? I'll meld them together into their real form," Zero softly instructed.

"Uh, sure." Lucille nodded and gathered all the fragment pieces together in both hands.

Zero nodded and began to use his power over those fragments. The star fragments began to fuse and merge together to make one full star and shined brightly like one of the many stars in the sky.

"Ooh, it's so pretty! So...you had Sora's memories of Lucille all along?" Quartz awed.

Zero nodded. "These memories that were trapped inside me I can now finally give back. When you leave this dream world, that star piece will go with you. When you wake up in the real Castle Oblivion, give it to Namine. She'll know how to add them back into Sora's heart."

"It sounds like you've planned this for quite some time," Oswald noted.

"Because...this was all planned-all from the very moment you opened Castle's Oblivion's doors. The truth is...I was the one who dragged you into this dreamscape. The Marluxia you saw when you entered the castle-that was actually something Lady Medea created to fool you. When you first opened those doors, that's the moment when you all fell asleep and entered the dream world of Castle Oblivion that we created-Axel included. That was really the only time I meddled with your memories. I changed the fact that you fell into Medea's sleep arte the moment you entered the castle and made it look like you walked into the castle without anything going wrong. That in turn affected everyone aligned to you as well."

"Lady Medea? The guardian of Castle Oblivion!" Florian clicked.

"You two knew each other?"

Zero nodded. "Lady Medea and I met a few times in secret since I knew she couldn't let the organization members find her. She was very kind to me, almost like a mother, not that I would know what having a mother is like. I'm very grateful to her, though. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her help."

"What do you mean by that, Zero?" Quartz tilted his head.

"Zero...you need to tell them," Riku reminded.

Zero slowly nodded. "I know. I won't hide the truth any longer. Lucille, you once said that you wanted to rescue me, right?"

"Of course. I still mean that." Lucille nodded.

"...How can you save someone...who...doesn't even exist anymore?" Zero looked down at the ground as he said this.

"...What?" Lucille's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait...are you saying that...?" Oswald started to realize.

"...Yes. You never met the real Zero...what you see here is only his memory-his living memory-that Lady Medea transferred into this dream world before his body expired. This dreamscape's source acts as my heart, so I could never leave this place even if I wanted to. The real Zero...is already dead."

* * *

"...What..? Zero is...dead?" Namine's eyes widened in horror when she heard this escape Medea's lips.

"I'm so sorry, Namine. It's true. He must have known his time was coming so he didn't want to make you worry about him. Besides, your last conversation with him ended badly over a misunderstanding, didn't it? It didn't feel right to tell you this so soon. So I thought I could act as his messenger on his behalf and tell you when the time was right. Or at least that is what I intended originally."

"That explains why I thought it was weird to see him still alive. I knew that the replica body and the artificial heart Vexen gave him were imperfect, so he would have a very short life-span. So what we saw was just his living memory that you transferred over to your made up Castle Oblivion as part of your plan to keep Sora's memories from falling back into the hands of the organization," Axel figured out.

"That's right. Zero feared that when his body finally gave up that his heart might have fallen into the hands of those loyal to the organization. If that happened, Sora might never be able to wake up again. He needs all his true memories for him to be restored back to the way he was before he came here, isn't that right, Namine?" Medea confirmed.

Namine's body shook and she tried to stop herself from crying, but she managed to give a small nod.

"So Zero had Sora's memories of his twin sister this whole time. That explains where his powers to control Lucille's memories come from."

"It was unintentional but Zero ended up with those powers because his heart was an attempt to create a replica of Sora's heart artificially, but it failed. When Namine started to meddle with Sora's memories, some of those memories-his memories of his twin sister, to be exact- ended up siphoning into Zero's heart-thus his ability to control Lucille's memories came into being. It was never part of the design that the one called Vexen had in mind for him."

"Lady Medea, what will become of Zero's living memory once he gives Sora's memory of Lady Lucille back?" Chi asked.

"It was suppose to be simple. Lucille and her friends would gather the star fragments, which are Sora's memories crystallized to keep them safe from any organization members, then at the end Zero would fuse those fragments together into one object, a star. Then they would be returned to the memory world of Destiny Islands and ejected safely from the dream world back to the real Castle Oblivion. And the dreamscape would reset back to its default state. Zero's memories would still be safely secured but he would no longer regain his self-awareness or physical form. All that will remain are his memories that he transferred over when he was still alive."

"So is that why they are inside these eggs?" Lumen curiously asked.

"They're called pods, not eggs, dear. I'll admit, this wasn't part of our plan, but it worked out for the better. The boy you call Riku and King Mickey came back here, found their unconscious bodies and brought them to this floor. Since then, knowing that they would be safe under your care, I kept a watchful eye over both worlds."

"Gosh, so all this time you've been keeping an eye on both this Castle Oblivion and the one you created?" Mickey asked.

"What of this Nightmare that you speak of? Is it a threat to us?" Diz requested to know.

"From what I have seen from afar, this Nightmare intends to use Zero for something terrible. Perhaps it intends...to break the dream and have it destroy Castle Oblivion from the explosion that would result from destroying the core."

"Wait...are you saying this 'Nightmare' is possibly planning to kill all of us by hijacking the dream and then blowing not only that dream world but the real Castle Oblivion too?!" Axel guessed.

Medea nodded. "Yes, that is a high probability and it is possible to do. Observe." Medea weaved her hand through the air. Through the wisps of her seraphic arte, she summoned a small crystal ball into her hand. It was so crystal clear that you could see a miniature Castle Oblivion inside. It sort of looked like a snow globe to the untrained eye.

"This is called a Dreamscape-the same thing I was talking about. It is how we Dream Weavers create our illusion worlds. We can then transfer to anyone memories or even the heart of someone inside this dreamscape. To the people inside, the world inside this ball will look, feel and even replicate every single detail of the real one that even a Seraph's senses can be fooled."

"Are you seriously saying this little ball is where Lucille and the others are still inside right now? But it's so small! And the Castle inside was so huge!" Lumen was shocked.

Medea continued, "Zero's memories are contained within the core of this dreamscape-so in a way, the core acts as Zero's heart. If that nightmare devours Zero and absorbs him to become one with the core of the dreamscape, that nightmare will have full control over the dream itself. It could turn it into a never-ending nightmare or he could choose to destroy the heart of the Dreamscape. Such an action would completely cause the dreamscape to crash and the glass ball that protects the dreamscape inside to break, causing an explosion powerful enough to destroy this castle and all of us with it. Originally we only used these dreamscapes as means of emergency containment. Despite the name, it's actually more of a prison to contain someone's heart or memories. I made a special exception for Zero, though; I made changes to this particular dreamscape to accommodate more than one person's heart at a time."

"...Man, you Seraphim really are a scary bunch! I thought you guys were just a bunch of holier-than-thou do-gooders, but if someone like you can make this then that can potentially just BLOW UP a whole world in a second if misused. Just what are the rest of your kind capable of?!" Axel's eyes widened in shock.

"I'm truly sorry. Zero and I never intended for this to get so out of control. We never expected that Nightmare to appear the way it did," Medea apologized sincerely.

"Wow, even I couldn't tell the difference! So was the Labyrinth of Memories just a replication too?" Ciela was awed by the power of Lady Medea's magic to be able to create something so elaborate as a whole world in such a small glass ball.

"No, the Labyrinth of Memories was real. When you used the Warp Mirror, you had unknowingly followed them back into the dreamscape, which was really the only place they could go back too. Without their real bodies, they were no different than wandering hearts themselves. It was a good thing you were there to guide them, Ciela." Medea shook her head.

"Wait...then...how does that-? Nobodies don't have hearts, remember? So how could I have been there if I was just as much trapped in that dreamscape as those kids?" Axel raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Medea gave a teasing smile. "I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. You're a smart boy, after all."

"Fine, keep your secrets," Axel scoffed.

"You were from that Labyrinth, isn't that right, little one?" Medea turned to Lumen.

Lumen nodded.

"I do not know how you ended up in there, but I can tell you are like me, a Dream Weaver Seraph. It's nice to meet a fellow Seraph after being away from the Sacred Grove for so long." Medea gave Lumen a soothing expression that made Lumen feel a lot more secure and less nervous.

"I've...never heard of the Sacred Grove. I woke up all alone in the Labyrinth. I was...really lonely."

Medea stroked Lumen's head like a mother would soothe a child. "That must have been a harrowing experience for a fledgling like you. I'll have to thank Florian and his partner Lucille for saving you."

Lumen lightly blushed but nodded silently. "Please, you have to help them, Lady Medea."

Medea nodded. "Don't worry. I will. I plan to go inside the dreamscape myself and eradicate the Nightmare ."

"Mickey, you must go inside that dream world and tell Riku that bringing the prototype replica back is now impossible. Our only option left is to eliminate it." Diz turned to the Mouse King.

"I don't think you heard what I said, Sir." Medea sighed loudly. "Zero is the source of that dreamscape. If you eliminate him, you'd cause a reaction that would cause the dream world to make a hard reset and kill everyone inside it. You would be no better than the Nightmare."

"Then what do you propose we do, Guardian? If we delay any longer, we could risk losing everything and all be killed," Diz challenged.

"We destroy the Nightmare, of course. Once we get rid of it, the dreamscape will take care of the rest," Medea simply answered.

"It's not fair! Zero never deserved any of this! Please, you have to let me go back into that dream world one last time!"

"So that's how ya got in the first time!" Mickey clicked the pieces together. Namine must have met Medea and asked her to let her into the dream world to meet Lucille and her friends the first time.

"It's very dangerous right now, Namine. Much more dangerous than it was when I allowed you inside the first time. Sora and his friends need you right now to put their memory back to the way it was before."

"I know that." Namine nodded. She then looked at Medea with determination. "But Zero ended up dying sad and lonely because he thought I replaced him with Sora. He died thinking he couldn't help anyone and that nobody cared about him. But he's wrong. He helped me and I cared about him! Before Sora came to the castle...I was so lonely, but to say I was completely alone is a lie. Zero was really the first real friend I ever had. We were both the same. We were trapped in this castle against our will and we couldn't escape with the Organization watching us."

"..." Axel was silent but he listened intently at this.

"I was so blind...how could I have been so oblivious to how Zero felt the whole time? I never knew that he cared about me that much. All I was thinking about was my own problems...So I have to go see Zero, if only just one more time. I want to tell him the truth-the words that I never got to say to him when he was still with us," Namine added, taking out the star fragment that Zero had wanted to show her on that day.

Medea softly smiled and placed a gentle hand on Namine's shoulder. "You know, Namine? I think you've gotten a little stronger since meeting Sora and Zero. If it means that much to you, I'll grant your wish."

"Thank you, Lady Medea!" Namine felt overjoyed to hear that.

"You see, Lumen? Lady Medea is a wonderful person. I'm sure you'll be in good hands with her," Ciela chirped.

Lumen nodded but he still had a look of worry. He was really worried about the nice fellow seraph and his human partner who helped save him in the Labyrinth. "I want to go back and check on Lucille and Florian. I'm really worried about the both of them...and the others, I guess."

"You and me both," Ciela agreed.

"Mickey, go with Namine. Her safety is of the upmost importance right now. She's the only one who can put Sora's memory back together," Diz told Mickey.

Mickey nodded.

"Rest assured, I will be going as well. As the one who created the dreamscape in the first place,it is my responsibility to intervene should anything happen to it. I will make sure that the children return back safely."

"Hold up, I'll go too." Axel raised his hand.

"Oh, well this is a twist. I hardly expected you of all people would volunteer to go back into the dreamscape. Weren't you trying to find a way to escape?" Medea crossed her arms and looked at him skeptically.

"Look, I know you don't like me because I'm part of the Organization. But you know? I actually didn't mind the kid when he was alive. Sure he was a pushover and maybe just a flawed replica, but when you think about it, he was probably the most human out of all of us in Castle Oblivion. He was a good kid. At the very least, I want to make sure his last moments in that dream world are peaceful. Besides," Axel explained his reasons before adding something else at the end.

"It was the Organization that created him in the first place, and we threw him away. As a member of the Organization, I was ordered to clean up here and get rid of any loose ends. This is one of those loose ends."

"And what of Sora? Are you going to rat his location out to your superiors? I warn you, I will not let you harm that boy so long as I'm here," Medea challenged.

"Whoa whoa, I never said anything about telling my boss about Sora. Sure, he'd want to know, but I ain't gonna tell him. Seriously, I'm more scared of his twin sister than I am of my own leader. You didn't see the death glare she gave me the whole time I was in there. If looks could kill, I think she'd probably kill me a hundred times over already!"

Medea was surprised, blinking multiple times trying to commit what Axel just said to memory. Lumen, Ciela and Chi were just snickering in the background.

"Perhaps Zero was right about you after all. He trusted you. That is why I didn't throw you out of the dreamscape at first. So...I will trust his faith in you. I hope you do not disappoint me, Axel."

* * *

Back in the memory world of Twilight Town, Zero had just revealed one of his biggest secrets.

"You...you're already dead?" Lucille repeated in disbelief.

"It's true...I was flawed from the start. My body and heart were imperfect with each other. It caused my body to corrode and become weaker each time I tried to use my copy abilities. The Organization wrote me off as a failure and replaced me with a newer replica that they created from my data. My creator, Vexen, was then tasked with disposing of me. I was so afraid when I overheard this that I ran and hid away. That was when I first met Namine."

"Namine never told anyone about me and we were able to often talk to each other without being spotted by the other Nobodies. Back then, Namine felt like a ray of hope to me, a lone light within the misery of my own impending fate of one day suddenly disappearing."

"The thought of dying terrified me, so I fought as hard as I could to live. Every day was a struggle to survive as my body grew weaker by the day. One of my wishes was to be able to see the worlds outside this castle. To see what laid beyond that ocean of stars above me. But...well...you can figure out what happened next, can't you, Lucille? You saw my memories."

"..."

"At first, I had no reason to help Sora. I was angry at him. I was jealous. I blamed him for everything. Since I ended up inheriting his memories of you, I saw not only just his childhood but yours through those memories. Do you know what it's like to see the memories of someone else inside you? The worst thing was that they felt so real and vivid to me. That made it all the more painful when I realized they were just the memories of the real Sora and you. They were never mine."

"I wanted that kind of life for both me and Namine." Zero then gave a soft laugh with no humour behind it. "But...fate is cruel. I could only ever dream of having such a life of a normal boy. In the end...I'm just a broken replica, one who's life ended just as it began." With that, Zero finally pulled down the hood that covered his head for so long and faced everyone with no hesitation.

"That face-! Lucille, Zero looks like-!" Ava gasped in realization.

"So that's why you never wanted to show your face. I guess it would be awkward to have a conversation with someone who shares the same face as their sibling" Zen figured.

Riku wasn't surprised. After all, he had already accidently seen it for himself before.

"Zero...why do you have Sora's face?" Lucille's voice quivered.

"I'm sorry. This is why I was afraid to show my face to you. I didn't want to confuse you, or make you accidently think that I was Sora-because I'm not him. I never will be. All I am is just a cheap imitation, a puppet for the Organization to use to further their own goals. They tried to recreate Sora's heart by making an artificial one from scratch. The result left me looking like this." Zero looked away, ashamed of himself.

"Despite looking exactly like Sora, I'm nothing like him. I'm a coward. I couldn't even tell you the truth when I knew it was wrong to hide it from you. I'm not brave or kind or even remotely as friendly as him. He really was a hero of light like some of the members were calling him at the time. That's probably why I for the longest time hated him. He was everything I was not, but I wanted to be-especially for Namine. I was nothing more than a pale shadow of him."

"My last conversation with Namine...was one I would always regret-even now, I still do. My anger and jealously towards Sora and about my own fate was a constant thought in my mind, but having Namine there, being able to talk about silly things like what we'd do if we ever escaped Castle Oblivion-it was a hopeless and silly notion but it made me happy to forget, at least for a little while. But then...I overheard Larxene and Marluxia talking with her about how they would twist Sora's memories against him, turn him into their puppet against the Organization. And Namine was helping them do it."

"I felt betrayed. I felt like everything I knew about Namine was a lie. Worst of all, it made me feel I was being left behind all alone in that lonely cold castle. I was angry at her. I said awful things to her. I ran away in anger."

Tears started to fall from Zero's cheeks as his brave front began to crumble in front of them.

"After that, I felt so lost. I didn't know what to do anymore. Lady Medea found me and helped me figure out what it is I had to do. Even though I only knew of you through Sora's memories, I also didn't want to see you sad either, Lucille. I don't know why I felt that way, or if they were my feelings or Sora', but I wanted to help make things right. If I was going to die, the very least I could do is return these memories that are very important to Sora back to where they belong. In the end...I just wanted my life to mean something to anyone I wanted some validation to why I existed in the first place-to know at least I had helped someone instead of just wallowing in my own self-pity."

"Hence this whole plan of yours between you and Lady Medea." Florian frowned sadly.

"I'm sorry...I dragged you all into this mess because I was too much of a selfish coward to just return these memories when I was alive. I could have helped Sora when he was climbing the castle but I didn't. In the end, we needed to get outside help in order for our plan to work. That's where you came in."

"At first, I planned to keep our relationship as distant as possible. It would only have hurt you and myself in the long run if I got close to any of you. But...I really enjoyed the moments we had during our brief time together...I was so awkward and weird that I thought you guys would make fun of me. But you never did."

"Of course not, dummy! You're our friend! We even made sandcastles together, remember?" Quartz blurted out.

"Correction, you made the sandcastles. Zero just observed you," Florian corrected.

Quartz whimpered. "It still totally counts!"

"Heh, it's nice of you to say that. But...I understand if you don't see me as a friend anymore. You have every right to be furious at me. I essentially used you all in order to return something I should have given back when I was alive all because of jealousy and spite towards the real Sora."

"But...I will say this, though: when I said you were my friends to Axel back then, I truly meant that. Although...I know that probably sounds fake to you now knowing what I am."

Lucille approached Zero and hugged him tightly. Zero froze in place at this, his eyes widened in shock.

"It's alright, Zero. This is enough." Lucille's voice felt soft and sad.

"W-why are you sad? You don't need to mourn for someone like me."

"No, you deserve to be mourned. No one deserves to die sad, lonely and forgotten like you did. There's not a single person in this whole universe that I'd wish that on. Not even my worst enemy! I don't care if you're Sora's replica or whatever. To us, you're just Zero, our friend whom we wanted to save, and that hasn't changed even now. If we can't save you like we had wanted to, then at least...I want to be able to help you save Sora. That is the same as saving you, right?"

"I'd be lying if I wasn't feeling angry about the fact you not only lied to us but used us, but...you're trying to atone for all that by helping us to save Sora, and you did save us on multiple occasions. Besides, even if our meeting was just built on lies and deceit, our friendship feels real enough to me."

Zero smiled sadly. "I don't really deserve such forgiveness, but I'm really glad I was able to finally meet you. You're just like how Sora's memories perceived you."

"Next time, though, when you're copying people's memories, don't take memories from other people without their permission," Zen added.

"Oh yes, that, I'm truly sorry about that. I accidentally copied one of your memories and imprinted it into the Hallow Bastion card alongside Lucille's memories. I must have accidentally touched the link between you and Lucille when I copied the memories from her."

Zen shrugged. "To be honest, it was probably for the better in the end. I got back the memories that were previously sealed away in the depths of my heart, and I learned some things from the whole experience. So I forgive you."

Quartz tackled hugged Zero. "The important thing is that you're here now! And you're far away from the mean pink haired guy. By the way, what happened to him? We haven't seen him in a while."

"Oh, right...that's something else we need to talk about. You remember that I told you that the one pretending to be Marluxia is actually a Nightmare, right?"

"Yup, we remember that. You also said that the first encounter with Marluxia was just Lady Medea's illusion of him, which I gotta say is impressive if that's true." Lucille nodded.

"That's right. Lady Medea created the scenario that you all witnessed back on the ground floor of the castle to make you think you were in the real Castle Oblivion."

"Everyone except me and Oswald, you mean," Zen reminded.

"Right, of course, you two entered the dreamscape physically. I still don't know how you managed to accomplish that."

"...A witch helped us-that's all I'll say about that." Oswald cryptically stated.

"Well-in any case-the Marluxia you saw the second time was no illusion, though. He was the Nightmare that invaded the dream world and caused the original plan to go astray."

"The truth is...I was the one who unknowingly brought that Nightmare here with me when my memory was transferred into this dream world of Castle Oblivion. It was also that nightmare who captured me and activated the recall protocol on me in the first place. Even I mistook it for Marluxia at first."

"Nightmares usually are the manifestation of our worst fears. Maybe it was playing on your fears of Marluxia," Riku theorized.

Zero nodded. "Perhaps that's true. Marluxia really did scare me when he was still alive."

"So this is where you snuck off to, Zero...You're quite the disobedient child, you know that?" A voice called out from above them all. They all looked up to the top of the clock tower to see Marluxia standing there with scythe in hand.

"It's him!" Zero took a few steps back in panic.

"How did you find us? More importantly, how did you get into this memory world?" Riku demanded to know. "You shouldn't be able to get in here."

"Well, since we're all sharing secrets, I suppose it's time I reveal my own little secret too." He jumped off the clock tower and landed gracefully on the ground without any fall damage. Then again, this world wasn't bound by the usual laws of physics since it was just an illusionary world.

"We know that you're not really Marluxia. Drop the act already!" Oswald pointed accusingly.

"Heh, very well, enough of this charade. How about a real twist to this tragedy of lies and illusions?" He snapped his fingers and his body began to morph and change like living liquid. Once he finally reformed, his true face was revealed.

Zero's eyes widened in horror. "N-no...You can't be-"

The person now standing before them looked almost like a perfect copy of Zero, everything from the body build to his face. His trench coat looked different from Zero's. It had dark blue flame-like patterns that seemed to glow and ebb every now and then, as if pulsing with darkness.

"That's right. I'm you-or rather, shall we say your darkness?" The Zero-look alike mocked. "I suppose I should reintroduce myself. I am what you call Zero's nightmare, so I guess you could call me Nightmare Zero~" He twirled the scythe around fluidly. Even his voice no longer sounded like Marluxia's. It sounded like a colder and sadistic version of Zero's voice.

Riku made a few steps forward before pointing his sword at him. "So you're the reason for all the fabricated darkness and Heartless, aren't you?"

"Eh? You mean it wasn't just part of Lucille's memories that the Heartless showed up in those worlds?" Quartz blinked in surprise.

"Well duh, why do you think there's been no other nightmares other than myself if we're in a literal dream world similar to the ones you can find in the Sleeping Realm? The 'Guardian' of the castle weaved this entire dreamscape completely through her own power alone, using the ancient illusionary seraphic artes that cover the real Castle Oblivion. As such, even though real Heartless still can't enter this dreamscape of Castle Oblivion, I can recreate their illusions with a wave of my hand." As if to illustrate his point, he moved his hand slightly and multiple Heartless appeared from below.

"So that's it. He must have copied Lady Medea's powers by using the dream world she created as a template to copy from." Zero gritted his teeth.

"That's right. Clever boy. I'm still you despite being a nightmare in this world, so that means I inherited everything from you as well-except one little thing, those memories." He glared at the star that was in Lucille's hands.

She quickly put the star safely in one of her pockets and glared back. "There's no way you're getting your hands on these memories! They're important to both Sora and me! And they're going straight back to where they belong!"

"Lucille's right. That was the whole point of this world's creation in the first place, to keep them from falling into the hands of people like you!" Zero nodded.

"Well, well, look who grew a conscience and a backbone. You hated Sora before all this. Why the sudden change of heart? Or are you just trying to look good in front of your 'friends'? If they can still call your their friend after everything you put them through…"

Zero shook his head. "You're right. I used to think like that. But not anymore. This was never Sora's fault. I was just looking for someone to blame for all my troubles when I was still alive, but no more."

"Pfft, save me the noble speeches. I'm all your negative thoughts and darkest fears manifested by this dream world when you first arrived. You and I are two sides of the same coin."

"Unlike you, Zero acknowledges his mistakes and is trying his best to correct them!" Florian argued.

"Like I care. Besides, I have no interest in those memories. In, I would sooner smash them into tiny pieces."

Zero was taken aback by this. "What?! But why?"

"All I care about is revenge-revenge against the Organization who used and betrayed us. At first I thought about just taking over one of your bodies by destroying your consciences in this world so I could attack the Organization physically, but then I thought of something better~" Nightmare Zero smiled cruelly.

"What if I destroy the real Castle Oblivion by breaking the barriers between the sleeping realm and Castle Oblivion itself and crashing this whole dream world on top of it? That sounds so much better to me. If I destroy that eyesore of a castle, I'll not only get rid of Sora but also it would be a devastating blow to the Organization, as Castle Oblivion is but one of their facilities."

"You're crazy! There's no way we're going to let you kill everyone back in the real Castle Oblivion!" Zen shook his head.

"Yeah! What about Miss Namine? You don't really want to kill her, do you?" Quartz tried to reason.

"The memory witch who tossed us aside as soon as her 'hero' arrived? What do I care? She can die along with everyone else in that castle. So long as I can get my revenge, nothing else matters."

Zero glared with a determined look. "I won't let you hurt Namine. Even if you and I are the same, I know for a fact that the original Zero-what he felt for her in his heart never changed. He still cared for her right until the very end! As his living memory, I should know that better than you."

"What does it matter? All that awaits us is oblivion anyway, but if we are going to fade away when this dream ends, we might as well do it with a bang, no?"

"What makes you think I'd ever help you?" Zero challenged.

"I'm sorry, did I say you ever had a choice in this? You are the beating heart of this dreamscape. All I have to do is unite us as one being and this world will be mine to control as I see fit. Why do you think I used that recall protocol on you in the first place? If I wanted to eliminate you, I could have done so right from the start."

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Riku countered.

"Oh? Are you actually defending him? Wasn't he the one who dragged you into this fabricated dreamscape to save someone he never even met? He used and manipulated you like pawns. He's no better than Namine." Nightmare Zero sneered.

"..." Zero couldn't counter that, because of how brutally true it was.

"So what?" Lucille countered.

"...What?" Nightmare Zero narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Maybe that's true, and, yes, maybe I'm still angry about that, but good friends always find a way to forgive each other. Not everything can be forgiven; that's true as well. But even if Zero did those things, he did them to correct his mistakes and help save my brother, even though he had no reason to help him."

"What she's saying is that you can keep playin' your mind games, cuz we ain't listening!" Oswald finished.

"Fools. Fine, have it your way. You want to fight me? I'll give you a fight." Nightmare Zero armed himself ready with his scythe and summoned even more Heartless into the world . He even began to twist and morph the memory world around them. "Here's a fun fact: Even though I can't control your memories like your Zero can, I can still have some control over the memory worlds and this dreamscape. I can even make stuff up if I wanted to."

"So that's how he was able to create the Heartless on Destiny Island," Florian figured out.

"Get ready, everyone, something tells me this guy ain't playing around anymore."

Everyone armed themselves ready to fight Nightmare Zero. Even Zero himself summoned his scythe weapon and got ready to fight.

"Huh? You're fighting too? Doesn't using your powers weaken you?" Zen asked.

"Yes, that's still true in this world but...we're friends, isn't that right? At the very least, I want to fight alongside you just once before the end." Zero smiled softly.

Gula shrugged with a tiny smile. "Can't say no when you put it that way."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Ava asked with concern.

Zero nodded. "Yeah. I'm through running away from my mistakes. I accidently created this nightmare, so it's up to me to end it."

"Hmph, you think yourself a hero? That's laughable coming from you, coward. Very well, go ahead and try," Nightmare Zero scoffed before making the first move, charging towards the group at an alarming fast rate, his target being Zero himself. "If you can!"

Zero blocked the attack using his own scythe against his nightmare counterpart, the two weapons screeching from the contact. He pushed the other back then turned to the others. "Leave the Nightmare to me. You concentrate on the Heartless," Zero told them before closing again to keep Nightmare Zero occupied.

Lucille and the rest grouped up as the Heartless got closer to them.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Lucille questioned. "We don't know how many that Nightmare is capable of spawning."

"They're also just imitations, though, I think we'll be fine so long as we don't get outnumbered," Riku analyzed their situation.

"Then what are we waiting for? Time to cull some Heartless!" Zen unleashed the Heartless claw and made a powerful swipe at the encroaching Heartless, easily defeating a wave of the smaller ones.

Lucille and Florian kept close together, Florian using his seraphic artes at the flying Heartless while Lucille used the Lux Arma to attack the Heartless.

The stronger ones were kept at bay with Ava, Gula, Oswald and Riku using their keyblades

Quartz acted as support, using his unusual power to create crystalized barriers and shields to deflect attacks made by the Heartless.

Meanwhile, the fight between Zero and his Nightmare counterpart continued to clash. Unfortunately, it seemed that Nightmare Zero didn't suffer from Zero's problems when it came to their powers, as Zero was starting to feel the strain of overusing his abilities while Nightmare Zero stood there unfazed.

"Hmph. You're just as weak as the real Zero was. You can barely stand. The Seraph warned you that using your powers here in the dreamscape would be taxing on your heart here."

"Even so-!" Zero panted but charged in with his scythe ready to strike. "I won't let you hurt Namine or any of my friends. I'll stop you!"

"Oh really?" Nightmare Zero cocked his head a little before snapping his fingers sharply.

Zero could feel his body freeze up. He found himself unable to move at all! "Oh no, the protocol-"

"Good to know that it's still handy in this situation. Even if I can't conveniently make you forget everything again this time, you can't harm me so long as I know how to activate that protocol. How does it feel to be so powerless?" He mocked.

Zero just glared and tried to move his arms , but his body just wouldn't budge.

"Don't bother." He walked over to Zero and swiftly punched him in the stomach, causing him to drop his weapon and kneel on the ground in pain, clutching where his nightmare counterpart had struck him. His weapon disappeared and Nightmare Zero approached until he was right in front of Zero. "I can't have you disappearing just yet, but I'd rather not deal with your rebellious attitude right now." He picked up Zero by the collar of his coat and then slowly clenched his hand around his neck.

"How about this? If you don't come quietly, I'll force you to watch your 'friends' die."

"...!" Zero tried to struggle to get out of Nightmare Zero's chokehold on him, but the protocol was still in effect, unable to rebel against the one who activated it.

"But if you don't resist, I'll let them leave this dreamscape alive. Not that it will do them any good, the real Castle Oblivion will be destroyed soon after. So what will it be...hm?" Nightmare Zero turned his head when he sensed someone was attacking him from the right of him.

He stopped Lucille's surprise attack by using his free hand to stop the blade of the Lux Arma from striking him.

"Wha-?! How did you-"

"I'm no pushover like the other imitations you've fought in this dreamscape. How did you break through those Heartless?"

"Here's an idea, how about you don't make your fake Heartless as flimsy as paper next time! They were way too easy to kill, so I was able to make a break through their lines and tried to attack you while you were distracted."

"Hmph, I'd be impressed if those Heartless were an actual threat. What do you expect from total fakes of the real Heartless? They were only meant to be distractions-nothing more. And you're an even bigger fool for thinking you could try to outwit me within my own dream," Nightmare Zero mocked as he used his free arm to latch his hand around Lucille's throat and lift her up in to the air, slightly tightening his hold as Lucille kicked her legs in an attempt to attack while trying to aim her weapon at him, but it was difficult to concentrate while trying to breathe.

"Lucille! Hang on!" Riku saw this and tried to break through a line of Heartless only for more to spawn up quickly in front of him.

"Just how many of these things did that Nightmare spawn here?!" Zen cried out in frustration as he cleared out another bunch of weaker Heartless only for more to take their place. "Hang on, we're trying to reach you!"

'What do you think...I'm doing?!' Lucille yelled out inside her head.

"Stop it! Wasn't I your target?" Zero faced down his Nightmare counterpart.

Nightmare Zero ignored him and continued to slowly strangle Lucille. "You never should have come to this world or this castle. Now you're doing to die inside this place along with everyone else here. Any last words? No one's going to come to your rescue this time, little girl."

As if to spite those words, a fire chakram whizzed past Nightmare Zero, taking him by surprise and releasing both Zero and Lucille from his death grip on both of them.

Lucille gasped and took in large amounts of air.

"Lucille, are you okay?" Zero crawled over to check on her.

"Y-yeah. That was a close call. Who just saved us?"

The Heartless that had cornered the group ended up being easily taken care of by a single seraphic arte from Medea. Ava and Florian didn't waste time to check up on Lucille and Zero.

They all glanced in the direction of where the chakram came from to see it fly back to the owner.

"I'm sorry, were we interrupting something?" Axel gave his cocky smile and playfully twirled his chakram around his finger.

"Boy, glad we came in time! Are ya all alright?" Mickey asked.

"Mickey? How-" Riku was about to ask before Oswald interrupted loudly.

"What took ya so long to show up, Mouse?! Ya got a lot of nerve showin' up late!"

Mickey chuckled and shook his head. "Nice to see you again too, Os."

"Lucille! Florian! Are you guys okay?" Lumen ran past Medea to see Florian.

Florian nodded. "We are now."

"Lady Lucille! I'm so happy that you're alright! You're not hurt, are you?!" Chi jumped into Lucille's arms as she wailed happily.

"I'm fine. It's good to see you too, Chi." She gently stroked in-between the Chirithy's ears. Lucille then smiled at the small cat-eared seraph. "I didn't expect us to meet again so soon. Thanks for saving us, though."

"Oh...um, I didn't do anything. It was Lady Medea and Axel who intervened in time. I wanted to re-enter the dreamscape because I was really worried about you and Florian," Lumen blushed lightly and honestly answered.

"You're a dream-weaver like Lady Medea, right? I know you'll be in good hands with her."

"Oh, are you Mr. Zero?" Lumen pointed to Zero.

Zero nodded. What he didn't expect was getting hugged tightly by a familiar blonde girl.

"Zero! You're still here! I'm so glad! I thought I'd never get the chance to see you again."

"Na-Namine?! Why are you here? You're in danger here!"

"Oh well, ain't that just sweet?" Nightmare Zero spat, finally speaking up, giving Axel a seething look before facing Namine, Zero, Lucille, Florian and Lumen.

Zero went in front of Namine to defend her from the Nightmare.

"I never thought I'd see you actually fight for someone other than yourself. You've gotten soft, Number VIII," Nightmare Zero spat.

"Hey, this is mostly out of self-defense. And I can't exactly go to my Superior and tell him the whole castle got blown up because of you. Besides, you tricked me, making me think you were a living memory of Marluxia. I ain't gonna let that slide. No one makes a fool of Axel."

"Hmph." Nightmare Zero simply scoffed at the response.

Everyone else also rushed over once the previously ever spawning hordes of Heartless finally ebbed.

"Now hold on a second. Can't we just talk this out?" Quartz tried to reason with Nightmare Zero but he was only given a look of disbelief by Nightmare Zero.

"How much of a moron of a Nobody are you? Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Can you stand?" Zen offered his hand to Lucille. Lucille nodded and gratefully took it, standing back up. "Thanks, I'll admit that went different in my head."

"You're going to be the death of us one of these days, Island girl." Zen groaned in annoyance.

It was then that Namine took a few brave steps forward, stepping out from behind Zero. "Please listen to me. You really don't want to this. You're still a part of Zero, right? Then you must know yourself that what you plan to do won't change what happened."

"And why should I listen to you? Last I recall, you were the one who went into Sora's memories and rearranged them. Regardless of the circumstances, it doesn't change the fact that you were fine with replacing me with the one guy that I loathed most of all. It's because of him that the real Zero's life was nothing more than a joke to the Organization! A mockery of a heart that wasn't even real…Just a cheap imitation of the real thing!"

"Now I understand why he sounded so betrayed back then. I should have realized it sooner. I'm sorry that I hurt you, but I never once didn't think of Zero as my friend. Zero was the first friend I had ever made since I came into existence as a Nobody in Castle Oblivion. That has never changed, not even Sora could replace Zero to me. I just wished that I had told him that when I had the chance."

"Ha, too late for regrets now. The original Zero has long since passed away. All the apologies in the world won't change what happened. I'm just the embodiment of the darkness that has festered and grown in that flawed artificial heart that foolish Nobody Vexen created that only gained freedom when the original replica requested his memory to be transferred to this dreamscape. I am, in every sense of the word, a Nightmare. If you are trying to appeal to my sense of sympathy, you've just wasted your time, as I don't even have the heart to care for such things anymore."

"Wait, so you're blaming everything on Sora, who is just as much a victim of this castle as you and Namine?" Riku narrowed his eyes dangerously at Nightmare Zero, even brandishing his keyblade towards him.

"And what's so wrong with that? If only he never became a keyblade wielder. If only he never attracted Xemnas' attention in the first place. Replicas like us…we have never been born into such a sorry existence."

"..." Axel said nothing but those words made him think about Roxas and that 'new member' that joined recently.

"Xemnas?" Quartz felt that name ring a bell in his memory, although he didn't know why. "Wait, isn't that the name of the-" Quartz finally figured out the answer but was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Even if taking out Castle Oblivion only sets back the Organization a step, I don't care anymore. I'm through playing around in this fantasy world! It will be my final revenge-no-our final revenge. It's my time to make them suffer. I'll make them regret ever creating the Replica Project! And I'm inviting you all into the eternal abyss with me!"

They felt the memory world starting to shake roughly, almost making some of them lose their balance.

"Oh c'mon, what's going on now?!" Axel cried out in frustration.

"Oh no! Look up there!" Mickey pointed to the sunset skies above and saw that there were cracks starting to appear, destroying the near perfect illusion.

Even the ground below them started to crack and even the Clock Tower saw cracks literally on the clock face, and it even gave an eerily creepy bell chime, as if it was tolling the death of the memory world around them.

"Oh no! He plans to destroy the memory world with us in it! We need to leave now otherwise we'll never be able to leave!" Medea realized quickly.

"You all need to go right away. You have Sora's memories now. You did what you were brought here to do. Leave the rest to me. Lady Medea and Namine will know how to put those memories back." Zero quickly turned to everyone.

"We can't just leave you here with this psycho!" Lucille pointed at Nightmare Zero.

"Yes, you can-and you must." Zero was more determined than ever. "I had knowingly dragged you all into this while leaving you in the dark for all this time. I had put you all in danger for my own foolish mistakes that I was too spiteful back then to amend. I can't put you all in any more danger than I already have," Zero added.

"If you stay here, you'll be alone with that nightmare. Even if you can't leave this dreamscape, you could at least go somewhere he can't find you," Zen reasoned.

Zero shook his head. "No, there's no point in running anymore. He would find me no matter where I hide. I'll stall him for as long as I can, but no matter what happens you can't let him destroy the real Castle Oblivion." He turned to the guardian of the castle, with an expression that told Medea what it is he was going to ask her.

"...If I do that Zero...you really will..."

"I know. But this is my problem. I was the one who brought this nightmare here. This dream had to end eventually anyway, so please let me do this."

Medea looked conflicted, but closed her eyes and sighed outwardly. "I wanted to keep my promise to you. I'm sorry that it had to end this way."

Zero shook his head. "You did keep your word. I was able to meet Lucille, and, even though our time together was very short, I was glad we were able to meet. Sora's really lucky to have you for a sister you know, Lucille. I just wished...that we met in better circumstances than this."

Lucille looked conflicted as well, not wanting to leave Zero here with that vengeful Nightmare counterpart of his. "Zero, what are you saying? It's like you're saying that you're going to disappear as soon as we leave."

"I-"

Their conversation was interrupted as Twilight Town's iconic clock tower crumbled down as it tilted sideways and made a roaring crash, even destroying the train station below it.

"We don't have time! You have to go! Please keep Namine safe for me, okay?"

Medea didn't say anything but started to cast a wide-spread seraphic arte that teleported everyone safely from the dreamscape itself. "Wait, Zero-!" Lucille couldn't finish her sentence as she was the last to be sent away.

"You know that fighting me is pointless, right? So long as I can activate that protocol, you can't attack me."

"If I can't beat you, I can at least keep you busy so you won't have a chance to destroy the real Castle Oblivion. It'll only be you and me that disappears-together."

"Tch, your 'friends' won't let that happen. Ahhh, that's why you didn't tell them what would become of you when they leave the dreamscape. My, how dishonest you are. Even after all that confessing you did not long ago, you're still keeping secrets."

"I did think about telling them but...I don't want them to know. It'll only make them feel guilty for something that wasn't even their fault and they deserve better than to be saddled with regret and hurt. Besides, this is my dream. I'll decide how it ends, not you."

"Oh, we'll see." Nightmare Zero shrugged with an sadistic smile. "Come and fight me if you can then. I'll even arrange the location for us. The heart of the Dreamscape itself!" He charged towards Zero, scythe in hand, as Zero also mimicked the same move. And then, they both teleported away from the memory world, leaving the memory world of Twilight Town to crumble and fade away into oblivion.

* * *

Okay, that looks like a good place to stop for this chapter! I had thought about extending it a bit more but I felt this was a good place to stop for suspension. =P

First off, I'm so sorry for the long wait! A lot of things came up at once that took me away from writing, like Dragon Quest Builders 2...then Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers. (btw, amazing expansion) XD So yeah, I have no excuse, so I'm really sorry for being so easily distracted. XD

So much info-dumping happened in this chapter. XD But I hope that it was worth the wait. ^^ Next chapter, Lucille and the others will finally be back in the real Castle Oblivion, but their adventure in Castle Oblivion is not over just yet. There's still the threat of Nightmare Zero and his desire to get revenge on behalf of the real Zero, even if it means destroying Castle Oblivion itself.

With the final battle approaching, how will it all end? Find out in the next chapter! =D

Anyways, on that note, it's review corner time!

 **~:Review Corner:~**

 **Mysterygirl145:** Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, I really enjoyed writing !Child Zen. =3 I wanted to give a reason for why Zen's arm is the way it is, and a reason for Zen's cat-like temperament. XD I hope that you also enjoyed this chapter as well. ^^

 **Guest:** Thank you for reviewing! More or less two or three chapters left. It depends on how much I can fit into the next chapter without it being too text heavy. =3

 **Kaia:** Thank you for reviewing! Hee hee, glad you enjoyed the chapter. XD There will probably be more of that in the future arcs, hue hue, but I don't want to rush it. So I'm making it a gradual build up over time. =3 I haven't done something like this before so I'm really keen to see how far I can take the love triangle. But eventually I would like to know which one people prefer so I know when to narrow it down to that couple. Sokai is set in stone though that's not up for debate. lol =D

And indeed, Birth By Sleep is one of my absolute favorites of the series so I'm looking forward to it. I've got some ideas for the Radiant Garden section. =3

 **Guest (2):** Thank you for reviewing! Well, you were right about Zero's face being one of those four. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. =D

 **Gry22:** Thank you for reviewing! To be honest, I still haven't decided how I plan to do KH days yet, I have two different ideas I could use but I can't decide which one is better for the current narrative. I had thought of making an another character the lead for KH Days, like one of the other three successors since I planned to introduce one of them during this particular arc. But I don't know how people will feel about changing to this character for KH days specifically and perhaps have Lucille and her friends have minor roles like Riku and Mickey did in KH Days. Like I said I haven't decided but thanks for your idea though, not sure if it would work in KH days timeline though. =3

 **eye to eye:** Thank you for reviewing! I have indeed completed KH3 and I really did enjoy it. =D Sure, the pacing could have been better and the Frozen world felt like a waste of time that we could have used to concentrate on the main story. But nevertheless, I still enjoyed the game really much. =3 I won't say much more since I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who's yet to play it, but KH3 is a great game, but KH2 was better at it's pacing at least. XD God knows how I'm going to implement the Radiant universe into this game but I'll work something out. XD

 **Visitor:** Thanks for reviewing! That's roughly how I plan to do the remaining chapters, but it'll depend on how much I can put into each chapter without making it text heavy for readers if it'll be two or three chapters. Next chapter will definitely have something to do with a final confrontation. =3

 **Guest:** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter and I hope this one was just as impactful. =3

 **Let's roll:** Thanks for reviewing! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and the 'truth'. =3 Onwards to the next chapter. =3

 **~:End of Review Corner:~**

And so with that, I'll get to work on the next chapter which hopefully won't take as long as this one did. Until then, my lovely readers. Happy reading and thank you for reading my story.

Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!


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